Greece bankers given 10 years in jail over Athens arson deaths

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three bank officials in Greece have been given jail sentences of up to 10 years for failing to protect the lives of staff during a fatal arson attack by anti-austerity protesters in May 2010, BBC News said.

Three Marfin Bank staff members died in the attack on a central Athens branch, including a pregnant woman.

No-one has yet been convicted of causing the fire.

The Marfin branch had refused to allow staff to leave early, unlike other banks in the area.

The arson attack remains one of the most tragic moments of Greece's financial crisis, BBC Athens correspondent Mark Lowen reports.

Youths threw firebombs into the bank during a protest, starting the fatal fire.

The prime minister at the time, George Papandreou said it was a "raw, murderous act" while President Carolos Papoulias declared his country had "reached the edge of the abyss".