The UK Extradites Former Greek Judge Who Fled Jail Sentence

The UK extradited to Athens a former Greek judge who fled jail sentence for money laundering in 2005.

Antonia Ilia had been sentenced unanimously by a five-member criminal appeals court to thirteen years for participating in a criminal network operating at courts in a case that caused shockwaves in Greece and undermined confidence in the judicial system.

She fled Greece in 2005 and lived in England, blocking every attempt to extradite her to Greece to face a jail sentence.

The charges included fraud, money laundering, slandering, and failure to declare her assets for taxation.

She has been on the run since being charged with working with corrupt lawyers to fix the outcomes of trials but was arrested in Brighton, south of London, in May 2011 after the Greek authorities had issued five European warrants against her.

The former Greek judge fights extradition to Greece

She had been teaching French at a local college and insisted that she was not Antonia Ilia but a French citizen. However, police searched her apartment and found her passport and ID, which confirmed that she was the fugitive judge.

The woman’s claim caused a furor during a local court hearing on the Greek extradition request. When asked to confirm her identity in court, the woman said her name was Antonia Jemen, born in the French town of Amiens in March 1963, and that her parents were Constantin and Claire Jemen.

The prosecution, however, presented evidence in court found in the woman’s Brighton apartment that included a Greek ID card, Greek passport, and Greek driver’s license in the name of Antonia Ilia.

The prosecution further submitted documentation from the British police that the fingerprints of Ilia contained in the Interpol arrest warrant were the same as those of the woman arrested.

The woman claimed in court that the documents found in her apartment had possibly been left behind by college students given that, according to her claims, she rented out her living room and one of the bedrooms to students.

She was placed in custody in Holloway prison where she remained for nineteen months. After repeated appeals, she was released in December 2012 under restrictions and the obligation to wear a tracing bracelet.

Among her efforts to avoid extradition, she asked British authorities for political asylum. Ilia has appealed because she is seeking political asylum since she claimed that her life is in danger if she is extradited, and she also stated that the conditions of incarceration in the Greek prison system are inappropriate.