Greek police arrested the suspect responsible for at least 6 cases of sexual assaults in downtown Athens and thus in broad daylight. The 23-year-old Syrian national was known to police for similar crimes and had served a prison sentence of less than a year for “attempted rape”, while he was released in October.
According to ANT1 TV, citizens in the area who had formed a patrol spotted the man at Kaniggos Square, near Exarchia, on Tuesday night. They informed a police squad, one of the many in the area.
Highly concerned about the safety of women and minors in the Exarchia area in downtown Athens, locals set up their own patrols on Tuesday after it was documented that the man was out of control assaulting and attempting to rape young women.
Among his victims is also a 13-year-old girl.
It turned out that he reportedly assaulted an 18-year-old girl in Glufada suburb of south Athens on October 24, short time after he was released from sexual offenders prison in Grevena, northern Greece. The girl was waiting at a bus stop when she was assaulted with the perpetrator to throw her on the ground thus putting one hand on her mouth and nose. The victim managed to escape and turned to police to file a lawsuit. Skai TV reported that the man was arrested in October but he was set free.
The Syrian national was in prison, detained awaiting trial, for having sexually assaulted a 75-year-old woman in Alimos, south Athens, in 2022. He was released in August. He was supposed to return to a migrants & asylum seekers facility in Attica but he never arrived there.
The man is to be taken to prosecutor on Wednesday afternoon.
Police suggests that the man’s victims are more than the recent six sexual assaults and plans to publish his pictures.
Media criticize police for negligence and indifference.
“The man is dangerous, he should not have been released from prison,” said Giorgos Kalliakmanis, president of the Union of Police Employees. He clarified that he was released from detention as the 18-month period had expired without him been tried in the court.
Speaking to state broadcaster ERT on Wednesday morning. Kalliakmanis added that “the victims have identified him. They are talking about the same person. First of all, he had a characteristic bad odor that remained indelible in the senses of the victims: he smelled very bad, because this man lived outside, he was homeless, he gave off a very unpleasant smell to those who approached him.”