I don't understand much about the process to be honest, other than that graves are rented and only the very very rich can have permanent graves if at all. I believe the last resting place for many is called an 'ossuary.'
ETA but for those who cannot afford the ossuary fees... Well it's just too sad to think about.
Why Greeks are exhuming their parents
this is true. In the village my family is from, there’s a little chapel where the exhumed bones are kept in boxes. They leave people buried for several years before this occurs. Usually the ones that have the shortest stay in the ground are the ones who died at an old age. I asked once about when people pass at a young age, especially when children. They said they leave the youth graves alone. If they are exhumed, it would be after many decades when the child’s loved ones have also passed.
the way my village does it is the loved ones of the departed have to ask the locals if someone is willing to exhume a relative to make space. My Mom died first. When my Father passed 2 years later, my family begged the family next to my Mom if they can have the space so my parents can be buried together but the person refused.
If this is how FD place works then I suspect they may have difficulty finding a spot ( unless they exhume their own relative). Greeks can be very wary and suspicious of karma and FD well, was controversial at best.
ETA: judging by the comments I’ve seen greeks make on articles, most think he’s guilty.
Although I’m not Greek, I want to recognize this tradition, as far as I understand it, isn’t just something new driven by recent economic or space concerns, but that exhumation has been practiced as part of Orthodox culture for a long time with attendant ritual and meaning.
I had to take a class on “Death and the Afterlife in Greece” (taught by a Greek scholar) as part of my Gen Ed requirement in college and we learned a lot about this tradition.
Again, this is not my culture and I have no idea how it will bear on the FD case, but with the way it seems the media is presenting it combined with our collective outrage and disgust for FD, I wanted to offer that perspective.