Fugitive former judge Antonia Ilia taken before prosecutor, to be transferred to prison

Former judge Antonia Ilia, who has been a fugitive from justice for 19 years after being convicted for her role in criminal ring granting favourable court decisions in exchange for bribes, was taken before prosecutors who will make arrangements for her incarceration on Friday.

She was first taken to the Extraditions Prosecutor so that the arrest warrant issued by Greece might ratified and then to the Execution of Sentences Prosecutor. As soon as the relevant order is issued, she will then be taken to the Elaionas prison in Thiva to serve her sentence.

The former judge had been irrevocably sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in 2022, by a Five-Member Criminal Appeals Court, for money laundering. She had questioned the legality of the process that led to her conviction in lower-level courts.

Ilia, who had evaded deportation from the UK for 19 years, has been in the hands of Greek authorities since her arrival at Athens international airport on Thursday night, after she was finally deported from Britain and officially handed over into Greek custody.

She fled Greece in 2005, when the scandal was revealed, and lived in England, blocking every attempt to extradite her to Greece to face a jail sentence. According to sources, five previous efforts to bring her back had been foiled by various means, while that on Thursday was the sixth.

Ilia was arrested and jailed in May 2011 by British authorities and released in December 2012 under restrictions and the obligation to wear an ankle monitor. Among her efforts to avoid extradition, she asked British authorities for political asylum.

The two police officers sent to Britain to bring her back on Thursday were accompanied by a doctor, as Ilia had checked herself into a London hospital. The extradition was completed, however, as the hospital proceeded to discharge her so that she might be escorted to the airport and returned to Greece.