On Friday, a court of second instance found guilty six people accused of beating U.S. citizen Bakary Henderson in Laganas on the island of Zakynthos in July 2017.
Five defendants were found guilty of intentionally causing fatal bodily harm and one of causing fatal bodily harm. As for the punishment, one received ten years, four – eight, the sixth – five years.
22 year old student Bakary Henderson was beaten and stabbed while on holiday in Zakynthos. Lawyer Christos Kaklamanis, who represented the Bakary family, said his family “would demand, whenever possible, that the Supreme Court reverse the decision.” The defendants’ lawyers – Alexis Kougias, Agamemnon Tatsis and Athanassios Tartis – said they were satisfied with the verdict.
The retrial at the second level was initiated after the prosecutor of the Court of Appeal appealed against the first sentence handed down by the Court of Patras in 2018. The reason for the revision is U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ demandwhich she voiced to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a meeting in Munich in February 2022.
According to the publication cathimerinithe American Vice President asked the Prime Minister about the progress of the trial in the case of the murder of young American Bakary Henderson, which was committed in Zakynthos more than five years ago. An African American came to Greece on vacation in 2017 and died due to a “fatal” quarrel over … a selfie! Everything would have been within the framework of the usual “everyday life”, but, as it turned out, the Serbs were the killers …
A young American with a friend had fun in a bar in the area of Laganas, on the island of Zakynthos. They decided to take a photo at the bar with the waitress. The restaurant’s bouncer didn’t like it and demanded an explanation from the company about the photo. Word for word, a verbal skirmish began with a 22-year-old American.
In the video available to the police, the young man is seen running away, and the 32-year-old bar employee is chasing him along with one of the employees of the establishment and six Serbs. The American was overtaken and beaten until he lost consciousness. When the victim was taken to a local hospital, he died.
The American side, based on surveillance footage, considered that Bakary Henderson died as a result of a lynching, a crime that goes beyond other and purely racist characteristics.
Only one of the perpetrators was convicted by the trial court for the murder of an African American under the article “causing bodily harm with a fatal outcome.” After the guilty verdict was passed, the prosecutor filed an appeal, arguing that the criminal treatment of the case was incommensurate with the gravity of the crime, and returned the case for a new trial.
According to the information, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis personally promised the US Vice President to monitor the progress of the case and inform about it.
