Four years on, Briton cleared of Zakynthos murder

ekathimerini.com - Nick Malkoutzis

A human rights charity has called for the European Arrest Warrant to be reviewed after a Greek court acquitted a British man of killing a fellow holidaymaker on Zakynthos almost four years after the alleged incident occurred.

A court in Patras ruled on Friday that 22-year-old Andrew Symeou was not guilty of the manslaughter of 18-year-old Jonathan Hiles, thereby ending an ordeal that had seen the young Londoner spend the last 23 months in Greece trying to clear his name.

"There are no winners or losers, only pursuit of the truth,” Symeou said after walking free. “Today's verdict has only stopped further injustice and a possible gross miscarriage of justice. I was not involved in any way in the death of Jonathan Hiles and the court agrees. I can finally return home and begin building my life again.”

Following Symeou’s acquittal, FTI called for European authorities to re-examine the grounds on which European Arrest Warrants, which allow suspects to be extradited within EU countries even if there is a lack of clear evidence linking them to a crime, are issued.

“Andrew Symeou is an innocent man, who was condemned by failures in Europe’s justice systems to a four-year nightmare,” said FTI’s chief executive Jago Russell. “While his friends were free to start their adult lives, Andrew was being dragged before the British courts, shipped off to a foreign land and held behind bars in one of Europe’s worst prisons.

“As the Symeou’s finally return home to start picking up the pieces, politicians in London and Brussels, with the power to build a better justice system in Europe, must not forget the ordeal this family has suffered.”