After 27 years evading Australian law enforcement, a man accused of a 1999 fatal Sydney stabbing will not face trial in his home country, after a Greek appeals court delivered a surprising ruling that rejects his extradition on statute of limitations grounds.
James Dalamangas, now 56, was taken into custody last month on a Greek farm, ending one of the country’s longest-running manhunts. He was charged by Australian authorities with the murder of George Giannopoulous in Sydney, a crime he is alleged to have committed before fleeing the country immediately after the incident. His name had been listed on Interpol’s international alert list for decades, and Australian police upped efforts to capture him earlier this year, offering a AU$200,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in January 2024, just months before the 25-year deadline for the case under Australian law approached in April.
Local Greek media reports confirm that Dalamangas had built a new life under the assumed identity of Antonis Tzimas, living for 18 years in the quiet rural town of Alsos before his capture.
In a ruling that upends long-running efforts by Australian authorities to bring the fugitive to trial, Greece’s Court of Appeals announced this week that Dalamangas will remain at liberty under restrictive bail conditions, and will not be extradited to Australia to face murder charges.
Giannis Apostolopoulos, Dalamangas’ Greek defense attorney, told local reporters that the ruling turned on a clear legal principle under both Greek domestic law and the bilateral extradition treaty between Greece and Australia. “The decision was made because the offence is statute-barred in Greece. Our arguments were accepted, particularly the fact that the offence had become time-barred under Greek law,” Apostolopoulos said. “Under both our country’s criminal procedure and the Greece–Australia treaty, if the offence has become time-barred in either country, that constitutes a mandatory ground for refusing extradition.”
Greek law sets a 25-year statute of limitations for the kind of offence Dalamangas is accused of committing, meaning the 1999 killing fell outside the legal window for prosecution in Greece just months before his arrest. The ruling marks a disappointing development for Australian investigators who spent nearly three decades tracking the fugitive.