The Patras Court of Appeal Prosecution has ordered an urgent investigation into possible criminal offenses by the coroners of the Patras coroners’ service, following media reports and a related complaint by POEDIN president Michalis Giannakos.
According to “Kathimerini“, the order reportedly calls for an investigation into acts or omissions by the examiners, including potential offenses such as breach of duty, issuing false certificates, and falsifying medical documentation.
The service had issued reports on the Mourtzoukou and Pispirigkou cases, as well as on the alleged abuse of a minor girl reported by POEDIN. The girl was examined by the service and deemed not to have been abused, but after her suicide a few days later, signs of abuse were found during the autopsy.
Earlier, the entire Patras forensic service was suspended by decision of Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis. The suspension will remain in effect until the service is reorganized.
According to the Athens News Agency, the decision followed operational dysfunctions in the service: one medical examiner has died, the former head has been suspended, another has resigned, and the fourth is implicated in the Mourtzoukou case.
E. Mourtzoukou yesterday confessed to the murders of her two children, her friend’s child, and her own baby sister, when she herself was a minor.
As sources from the Ministry told “News247“, “we want to protect the credibility of the coroners’ service, since the recent revelations have caused major public concern.” The same forensic service had issued reports on the deaths of Roula Pispirigkou’s two children and two of the babies Mourtzoukou confessed to murdering.
According to “Proto Thema,” none of the three coroners who handled the cases and prepared the reports on the infants were able to detect signs of hypoxia (abnormally low oxygen pressure in arterial blood), which were later identified in multiple organs by a four-member panel of experts from the Hellenic Police.
In fact, the same Patras coroner had investigated the causes of death in three of the five cases, attributing all three to natural causes. Until the Patras service is restaffed, the Corinth coroners’ service will handle all related cases.
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