Greece’s Supreme Court tightens convictions for major drug dealers in breakthrough ruling

Gazzetta team 29 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015 - 19:03

Drug dealers involved in trafficking that would bring profits of more than 75,000 euros will be sentenced to life imprisonment regardless of the number of the accused, according to a new ruling of the Supreme Court plenum on Tuesday.

The decision will now be used as a precedent in all cases involving drugs.

Greece’s penal code imposes life imprisonment to professional drug dealers who are caught with drugs worth more than 75,000 euros. In the case examined by the country’s top court, the lawyers of two Albanian nationals who were arrested for possession and trafficking of more than 3 kilos of cocaine worth 85,000 euros, and another 30,000 euros and 3 kilos of cocaine found by police in their house, tried to break up the total of 75,000 euros in two, so that they could avoid the harsher sentence. The court dismissed their proposal.

The judges held that when more than one accused sells drugs judges must not take into account the monetary benefit they each expected but the entire amount.