Koufodinas: The VIP treatment

The phone rang at the Avlona juvenile detention facility, north of Athens, on Friday, July 24, 2015, with the announcement from a high-ranking Justice Ministry official that Koufodinas was going to be transferred there. "Koufodinas who?" inquired the perturbed clerk. "The one you're thinking about. He'll have all the proper paperwork," came the answer. "When?" asked the clerk, now truly alarmed. "Today."

Before the administration even had a chance to notify the correctional officers and guards of this sudden new development, there was a commotion outside at the main gate. Teams of counterterrorism officers had arrived at Avlona. Heavily armed and with their faces covered, they were about to unload convicted November 17 assassin Dimitris Koufodinas from an armored van.

Panic broke out within moments, from the police of the small local precinct that had not been...

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