Sitia: Today on the stool the widow and her former lover for the murder of the cardiologist Kalantzakis

Today, Friday, November 10, the trial is expected to begin – in the second degree – for the cold-blooded “execution” of 62-year-old cardiologist Christodoulos Kalantzakis, in October 2017, in Lasithi. The 43-year-old widow of the doctor and her 42-year-old ex-lover (both of Bulgarian nationality), who have been sentenced at first instance to life imprisonment, are expected to sit on the bench of the Mixed Jury Court of Appeal of Eastern Crete (Heraklion).

The 42-year-old had been declared guilty of “manslaughter by intent in a calm state of mind”, while his ex-lover was found guilty of moral turpitude in the act in question. As is easily understood, the lawyers of the two defendants are expected to put up a tough “battle” in the trial, in order to “break” life sentences for their principals.

It is recalled that the 43-year-old widow Kalantzaki stubbornly insists on her innocence, as she claims from the beginning that she had no idea that her ex-lover intended to murder her husband. For his part, the 42-year-old former police officer had argued at first instance that indeed the 43-year-old woman had not the slightest involvement in the case.

The Chronicles

In October 2017, the 62-year-old cardiologist Christodoulos Kalantzakis was “executed” in cold blood by the 42-year-old ex-policeman of Bulgarian origin. The brutal killing took place in Pilalimas Sitias, on the provincial road Ierapetras-Siteias.

The attacker fired three times with a shotgun at the cardiologist. The first shot hit him in the head, and then, after the doctor’s car had swerved off the road, the 42-year-old allegedly shot the 62-year-old twice more, killing him instantly.

The trial of the case in the first instance took place in February 2019 at the Joint Jury Court of Heraklion, which unanimously found guilty both the 43-year-old widow of the deceased doctor and her 42-year-old ex-lover: Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. The court had found the 42-year-old ex-policeman guilty, according to the indictment (manslaughter in a calm state of mind).

Regarding his 43-year-old compatriot, the Chair differed from the indictment, but also from the prosecutor’s proposal that had preceded it. The 43-year-old woman had been referred to trial for the act of direct complicity in the homicide against her husband, while the prosecutor of Edra had proposed to convert the charge attributed to her from direct complicity to simple complicity in the homicide.

The Joint Jury Court of Heraklion changed the charge from direct complicity in homicide to moral complicity in homicide. In the end, regular and lay (jury) judges unanimously found the 43-year-old guilty of the act of moral culpability in her husband’s murder, and the cardiologist’s widow was sentenced – she too – to life imprisonment.