Appeal over 2012 murder of 26-year-old student begins

The appeal of seven defendants convicted over the suspected murder in 2012 of a 26-year-old university student in Athens began in the Greek capital on Monday, with the president of the chamber urging the defendants to come clean about the events that led to the disappearance of Marios Papageorgiou.

"The truth is always liberating," the judge told the 73-year-old chief suspect, his wife and another five defendants. "You pursued a line of defense in the first-instance court that was not successful and led to your conviction. You have one more chance to talk, probably your last."

Marios Papageorgiou went missing on August 9, 2102, after leaving the seaside resort of Diakofto where he had been on holiday with his mother for the town of Aigio in the northern Peloponnese. In the early hours of the following day, his mother received a call from a man demanding 620,000 euros in...