Greek jail ordeal continues for couple

A Carlow woman whose husband is jailed in Greece, for crimes international justice campaigners have shown he could not have committed, has spoken of her heartbreak after his appeal shaved only a fraction off his 18-year sentence.

Greek jail ordeal continues for couple

Julie Marku, nee O’Reilly, had been praying for an end to the ordeal she and her husband, Mark have endured for the past four years but spent the weekend trying to come to terms with their hopes being dashed again.

“It just feels like we can’t win. No matter what we do, no matter who we bring, we just can’t seem to get the court to look at the evidence,” she said from the Greek island of Crete.

“If anyone looks at the evidence they will know Mark could not have committed these crimes. The whole thing felt like a show trial.”

Preschool teacher, Julie, 30, from Rathvilly, Co Carlow and Mark, 28, originally from Albania, met in Greece but married in Ireland in 2009 and were living here when Mark was arrested on a return visit to Crete in September 2010.

He and four other Albanian men were convicted of robberies from jewellery shops and houses, even though Mark was in Ireland when many of the most serious offences took place.

Barrister David Langwallner, director of the Irish Innocence Project, said the appeal court had not provided a written judgement or any detailed reasons for its conclusions but it appeared that the prosecution now accepted Mark was in Ireland at key times and had suddenly decided instead he must have organised the crimes from Ireland.

“I am devastated with the outcome,” he said. “The whole thing was a shambles from beginning to end and that is not even to mention the racist toxicity that pervaded the courtroom throughout.”

Mark’s parents-in-law, Bill and Phyl O’Reilly, were in Crete for the hearing and were dismayed with the latest setback for the young couple. “It was bizarre, because at one point we even had a glimmer of hope that if Mark wasn’t actually going to be acquitted at least he would get a substantial reduction in his sentence.” he said.

Mark’s sentence was only marginally reduced — from 18 years to 16 years and nine months — and he is now facing an appeal to the Greek Supreme Court and, if unsuccessful there, to the European Court of Human Rights.

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