Athens, Jan 7 (IANS): A 25-year-old Romanian man was arrested and charged with murdering acclaimed Greek writer Menis Koumandareas, Greek police announced Wednesday.

The man was detained Tuesday in a square in central Athens on suspicion of murdering the writer Dec 6, Xinhua reported.

A prosecutor filed criminal charges against him, while his accomplice, a 29-year-old Romanian national, was still at large, police said.

Koumandareas, the 83-year-old novelist, was found strangled in his apartment in the centre of Athens. There were no signs of tampering with the entrance.

The suspect has confessed to the crime to investigators, according to police.

The suspect said he had known the writer for more than a decade and he knew the writer had sold a property recently.

He asked the writer for a loan. After Koumandareas refused to give him the loan, the writer was killed by accident during a struggle to rob him, according to the suspect.

One of the most prestigious Greek writers in the past half a century, Koumandareas had won several national awards for his work, which has been translated into English, French and German.