By Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Greek former defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, convicted for corruption five years ago, is to be released on bail due to health reasons, a court ruled here on Wednesday, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
Tsochatzopoulos, 77, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2012 for money laundering, having received bribes linked to arms procurement contracts during his term as defense minister between 1996 and 2001. He was the highest former official to be convicted for corruption in Greece in several decades.
Due to various severe health problems, an Athens Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday to suspend the execution of his sentence.
Tsochatzopoulos is currently in an Athens hospital in serious condition following bypass surgery and, according to hospital sources, he will remain hospitalized until at least May this year.
According to the court decision, the former minister can be released on a 200,000-euro (213,300 U.S. dollar) bail and will not be allowed to leave Greece.
In the first reactions to the ruling, his lawyers claimed speaking to AMNA that their client could not come up with this amount.
Tsochatzopoulos was found guilty of accepting millions of euros in bribes. A part of the bribes has still not been traced in the offshore companies he, his relatives, and his associates had established.
His wife, Vicky Stamati, who was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for the same case, was released in 2015 as she was the mother of an underage child and due to poor health. Stamati had serious psychological problems and attempted suicide during her imprisonment.
