In a 4-3 verdict, a panel of Greek judges and jurors found Epaminondas Korkoneas guilty of intentionally shooting 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Dec. 6, 2008, in the central Athens district of Exarchia, an area of bars and cafes popular with self-styled anarchists.
A second policeman, Vassilis Saraliotis, was convicted of complicity and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Both are expected to appeal.
Grigoropoulos’ death led to the worst civil unrest Greece had seen in decades, with youths rampaging through cities almost nightly for two weeks, torching cars and buildings, smashing windows, looting stores and clashing with riot police.
Smaller scale riots also broke out last December, on the anniversary of Grigoropoulos’ death.
The teenager’s killing led to a resurgence of anarchist attacks, mostly focusing on police and government targets.
Two of the three judges and one of the four jurors voted Monday for Korkoneas to be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter with possible intent, which would have carried a lighter sentence.
Korkoneas had insisted the boy was killed inadvertently by a ricochet when the policeman fired a warning shot following an altercation with youths during a night patrol in Exarchia. “Justice has been rendered,” the senior lawyer of the victim’s family Nikos Constantopoulos told reporters.
The defense has pledged to appeal the sentences.
“This judicial decision is unprecedented,” the defendants’ lawyer Alexis Kougias said, adding that “the rule of law would be overturned” if officials decided to throw out his appeal.
A controversial attorney with a run of Athens Bar Association disciplinary cautions to his name, Kougias had angered the victim’s family during the nine-month trial by attempting to portray the 15-year-old as a troublemaker.
The case is noteworthy in a country where police brutality claims are commonplace but where punishment at this level is rare.
The December 2008 incident sparked days of rioting across Greece, with initial anger at the police compounded by the country’s worsening economic situation and a raft of corruption scandals burdening the then government.
The trial was held under heavy police guard after a far-left extremist group threatened to kill Korkoneas, prompting authorities to relocate the trial from Athens to Amfissa, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of capital.
Ten officers guarded the defendants for Monday’s ruling and a force of over 100 police was stationed around the streets of the small central Greek town.
