Greek Court Jails German School Hostage-Taker for 20 Years
A Greek court on Monday handed handed a 20-year prison sentence to a man who took hostages at a German school twice in three years, local officials said.
Costas Arabatzis, 55, kidnapped the headmaster, bursar and a teacher at the school in the northern city of Thessaloniki in 2009 and demanded a 10-million-euro (12-million-dollar) ransom.
He had a suitcase stuffed full of explosives and grenades and had threatened to set them off, but gave himself up as officers surrounded the building.
Arabatzis had carried out an almost identical hostage-taking at the same school in 2006.
He was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison for the previous incident, but the term was later reduced to three years for good behavior.
A former migrant worker in Germany, Arabatzis told the court that the German state ruined him financially by refusing to help him settle a loan during his stay there.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://test.naharnet.com/stories/en/156612 |