Update 16:00. The hearings lasted six hours. His lawyers Sorin Oprescu they tried to explain to the Greek magistrates that the former mayor general had an unfair trial, an unfair trial in Romania, followed by a very large, unjustified conviction.
Among the arguments brought by Sorin Oprescu’s lawyers was the fact that at the Court of Appeal, where the final sentence was given, one of the three judges, the one who tipped the scales in this conviction, did not hear witnesses and did not analyze some important evidence in this case, giving a “blind” sentence.
Update 09:00. Antena 3 presented exclusively the first images with the arrival of Sorin Oprescu in court, in Athens. He arrived at the Court of Appeal around 8:45 p.m. The former mayor was brought with a van, along with other detainees. They went down two by two, handcuffed to each other.
This morning, Sorin Oprescu is before the same panel that took the decision, the last time, to keep him in pre-trial detention for another 10 days, maintaining the decision of the case prosecutor.
At the end of the hearing, Sorin Oprescu will find out if he will be released or if the magistrates will maintain the measure of pre-trial detention for another maximum of 30 days. The law in Athens says that detainees can be held in pre-trial detention for up to 40 days, after which, even if the extradition process is prolonged, Sorin Oprescu will be released.
Sorin Oprescu finds out if he will be released from prison. He has been in the Korydallos maximum security prison for 10 days, where he was taken after being caught by Greek authorities. The judges who sent him to pre-trial detention decide whether to extend the measure until a decision is made on his extradition. The extradition process also begins on Monday. So, double emotions for the former mayor.
Sentenced to 10 years in prison and placed under international surveillance, Sorin Oprescu was detained in Athens on May 17. A European arrest warrant had been issued in his name. Sorin Oprescu was allegedly caught in the Glyfada region, a luxury region in southern Athens, where the richest people in Greece live.
Sorin Oprescu was definitively sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison for corruption by the Bucharest Court of Appeal. He is accused of three crimes: bribery, forming an organized criminal group and abuse of office.
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