Greek hitman fails to block prison transfer with hunger strike

Thousands of people shout anti-government slogans and "no dead hunger striker" during another day of protests to support convicted operational leader of the far-left group "November 17", Dimitris Koufodinas who began a hunger strike on January 7 in the high security prison in central Greece to demand his transfer to Korydallos prison in Athens, near his family. (AFP)

Athens –Greece’s top administrative court declined to block the prison transfer of a notorious far-left hitman whose life is in danger after a two-month hunger strike, a judicial source said on Tuesday.
Dimitris Koufodinas, formerly the top assassin of the extremist November 17 group, requested to be transferred to the maximum security Domokos prison in central Greece before the Council of State said it lacks jurisdiction to temporarily block the transfer.
The court has set an April 2 hearing for Koufodinas’ request that his transfer to Domokos be canceled altogether.
Koufodinas, 63, is serving multiple life sentences for 11 murders for the November 17 group, which for 20 years targeted industrialists, policemen, foreign diplomats and soldiers, before being dismantled in 2002.
In January, he began a hunger strike after being denied transfer to a high-security jail in Athens to be near his family. His health has been in critical condition for the last two weeks.
Koufodinas’ lawyer last week said he had agreed to receive a liquid serum intravenously at the request of two family doctors, after developing acute kidney failure.
Another court last week denied his request to suspend his sentence, ruling that his worsening condition was not due to an illness, but to his decision to go on a hunger strike.
Recent weeks have witnessed regular protests in solidarity with Koufodinas.
November 17’s victims included Pavlos Bakoyannis, a lawmaker who was the father of Athens Mayor Costas Bakoyannis and brother-in-law to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.