The 55-year-old man who hid his father's body inside a commercial freezer at the family's closed guesthouse in Mystras was sentenced to 11 months in prison, suspended for three years, after being convicted of giving false testimony to police.
The Sparta single-member misdemeanor court tried the case only on the false testimony charge, related to the inaccurate information the man gave police about his father's whereabouts.
Despite prosecutors' request that the sentence be enforced, the court granted the defense's request for suspension, and the man was released following the proceedings.
A separate charge of continuous fraud against the state remains pending, as authorities have not yet determined the exact amount of financial damage involved.
Completion of the forensic examination, which will establish the precise time of the elderly man's death, is considered critical to that investigation, since it will determine how long pension payments continued after his death.
Testifying in court, the defendant denied acting for financial gain, saying he was unable to cope with his father's death.
The case came to light after police, investigating the elderly man's prolonged disappearance, found he had been reported as living in Athens — a claim his sister disputed, prompting a search of the family's guesthouse that uncovered the body inside the freezer.
According to state broadcaster ERT, when confronted over the false claim, the son told police: "I've kept him preserved."