Tirana wants answers after Albanian inmate death

The Albanian Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the weekend at the death of a 42-year-old Albanian inmate of a prison in Nigrita, northern Greece, whose battered body was found in his cell just a few days after the convict stabbed a prison officer to death.

“The Foreign Ministry condemns attacks against authorities imposing the law as well as all acts of violence against Albanian citizens serving their sentences in prisons in Greece,” the ministry said in a statement, which called on Greek authorities to determine the exact circumstances that led to Ilie Kareli’s death and to punish those found responsible.

Last Tuesday the 42-year-old stabbed prison officer Giorgos Tsironis, 46, in the windpipe at Malandrino Prison, central Greece, killing him instantly. He was subsequently transferred to Nigrita jail and put into solitary confinement. He was found dead in his cell a few days later. According to coroners, Kareli suffered multiple fractures to his sternum and bruising elsewhere on his body.

The news of his death, and rumors that he had been savagely beaten, fueled upheaval at Corinth Prison over the weekend, with Albanian inmates refusing to return to their cells in protest.

Overcrowding at Greek jails triggers frequent protests by inmates and has prompted the government to herald an overhaul of the country’s penitentiary system.