In a recent operation, police raided estates owned by the influential Papadimitriou shipping family located in Schoinoussa and Attica, where they discovered five antiquities and nine religious icons believed to be protected under Greek heritage laws.
The raids took place on Monday, aligning with the ongoing retrial of a 2006 case where numerous ancient artifacts were found at the family’s villa. Dimitris Papadimitriou was temporarily detained during the operation but was later released by a prosecutor’s directive.
A preliminary investigation has been initiated by the authorities to determine the provenance of these items.
Additionally, a legal case has been filed against Despina Papadimitriou regarding the Byzantine icons found. The family contends that these items were part of the documentation from the 2006 investigation, and some argue that they do not meet the criteria for being classified as antiquities.
During the initial 2006 raid, 152 items were confiscated, with 69 officially recognized as protected artifacts. Some of these were transferred to museums, while others were left integrated within the villa’s architecture.
The Papadimitriou family was cleared of charges related to monument embezzlement in 2022 by an appeals court due to lack of sufficient evidence. However, this decision was reversed by Greece’s Supreme Court, leading to the current retrial.