A Greek court in Thessaloniki on Wednesday ordered the extradition of a 34-year-old man from North Macedonia to Germany, where he is wanted for participating in a robbery and death of an 81-year-old man.
The man was arrested in May at the border station of Evzones, in northern Greece, where a routine check showed that a European arrest warrant was pending against him.
The crime, according to German prosecution documents, was committed last February in a small town in the federal state of Hesse. The suspect had allegedly travelled to Germany on business with fellow citizens and stayed in rooms rented by the victim. The perpetrators, according to German law enforcement authorities, tied and gagged the elderly man, taking cash from his home. His death was caused by suffocation.
Before the judges of the Appeals Council, the 34-year-old asked not to be extradited to Germany, claiming that it would be easier for his family, who lives in the town of Veles in North Macedonia, to visit him in a Greek prison. The Council, however, rejected his request.