ATHENS – A five-member criminal appeals court on Thursday returned a unanimous verdict of “not guilty” for the postgraduate student known in the Greek media as Irianna, and her co-defendant on terror charges Periklis.

The two had been sentenced to serve lengthy prison sentences as members of the terror group “Conspiracy of Cells of Fire” but the conviction was strongly criticised as being flawed and based on flimsy and inconclusive evidence.

A Greek appeals court on July 2017 had refused to suspend the prison sentence imposed on the 29-year-old postgraduate student and Periklis, finding that they should remain in prison until their case is heard on appeal. Irianna was convicted on the basis of DNA evidence that has been contested as incomplete and insufficiently conclusive to support a conviction.