ATHENS – Held up over a dispute over whether jail sentences should be imposed in criminal cases, the trial of the the family leaders of the Folli Follie jewelry maker and accessory company is due to resume June 19.

That will be before the Court of Appeal for Felony Cases after the Athens Bar Association, which has been wrangling over legislative provisions for jail sentences, said it would let lawyers attend with permission.

The trial began early in 2022 before running into obstacles, the main defendants Folli Follie founder Dimitris Koutsolioutsos and his son Georgios, along with others, charged with faking financial accounts and forming a criminal group.

The statute of limitations to prosecute is fast expiring on a number of the accusations brought against Koutsolioutsos and his son after an accounting investigation found that supervisory authorities and the stock market allowed a scam, including embezzlement, to go on from 2000-17.

The court’s President Maria Andreopoulou, took the unprecedented decision in December, 2022 to stop the proceedings after complaining it was being “held hostage” in a legal snafu causing a problem.