Romanos ends hunger strike

Prior to the measure being adopted, the President of the Republic spoke on Wednesday morning with the Prime Minister via telephone after speaking with the opposition leader Alexis Tsipras.

The amendment submitted by the Justice Ministry was accepted by all opposition parties in parliament with the first being SYRIZA when Zoe Konstantopoulou announced that the party was withdrawing its demand for a roll call vote on the amendment.

After the measure was passed, Nikos Romanos reportedly broke his 31 day fast by eating a cracker.  

“It is not a time for celebrations. Democracy and legality won… The most important thing is that a life was saved,” Romanos’s attorney, Frangiskos Ragkousis stated.

According to the final amendment that was supported by all parties in parliament, students who are imprisoned following convictions or who are remanded in custody on charges including belonging to terrorist groups (as are pending against Romanos who is accused of participating in the domestic anti-establishment group ‘Conspiracy of Fire’) can be granted educational leave and fitted with electronic bracelets provided they have completed the first third of their studies by distance learning.

Charalambos Athansiou explained that the new measure was “a composite of all the proposals,” which were submitted on Tuesday night by the opposition parties in parliament.