Court rejects petition by convicted priest’s family for control of charity

Greece's Supreme Administrative Court, the Council of State, has rejected a petition by the wife and mother of a convicted priest who led a children's charity, seeking a return of the charity's control to the family through the annulment of two ministerial decisions that appointed a provisional administration.

Stamatia Georgianti, the wife of Father Antonios Papanikolaou, and his mother, Despina Papanikolaou, had filed a petition with the Supreme Court to regain control, as sole partners, of the children's charity "Kivotos tou Kosmou" (Ark of the World), which the convicted priest headed after establishing in 1998.   

Last week, the 54-year-old Father Antonios was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, converted into a financial penalty, after being found guilty by an Athens court of multiple counts of physical abuse against children under his care.

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