Greek authorities to review cleaner's 10-year fraud sentence
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's supreme court prosecutor is re-examining a lower court's decision to jail a kindergarten cleaner for 10 years for fraud because she forged an elementary school certificate to get her job.
Court officials said Thursday that Xeni Dimitriou will review the ruling — which has been widely criticized as unduly strict — to determine whether the case should be retried.
The 53-year-old municipal employee quit elementary school after completing fifth grade. She obtained her civil service position having submitted a forged certificate that she had finished sixth grade — the minimum education requirement for state-employed cleaners.
She was jailed following her conviction by a court in the city of Larissa, in central Greece. Her lawyer has appealed the ruling and will seek her release from prison pending retrial.
