The suspect in a latest high-profile case in Greece involving violence against women was apprehended on Tuesday evening in a west Athens municipality, three days after he allegedly snatched a cleaner, 50, from a staircase and repeatedly raped her in his apartment.
The incident on Saturday, in the working-class Kato Petralona district of Athens, came only a few days after the shocking death of a 20-year-old woman early last month was solved, with the confession of her 32-year-old husband, a commercial helicopter pilot.
Both incidents have sparked debate in the east Mediterranean country on the need for an overhaul of the criminal code, prison sentencing guidelines and incarceration rates, as well as grassroots efforts to combat violence against women, in general.
For instance, the suspect in the rape case, a 35-year-old Bulgarian national, was convicted of raping a 22-year-old college student in Athens in 2015. He was released from prison in 2020.
The suspect was located by a special fugitives unit in the Nea Philadelphia municipality.
The victim on Saturday managed to get the attention of other apartment residents by crying out for help and throwing objects off a balcony in the apartment building's rear commons. However, a slow response time by authorities and then failure to enter the apartment, where the woman was held captive, in a timely manner ostensibly allowed the rape suspect to flee.
