IHF Report 2002
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152 GREECE1 IHF FOCUS: freedom of expression and media; torture, ill-treatment and police mis- conduct; conditions in prisons and detention facilities; religious intolerance; nation- al minorities; citizenship and statelessness; intolerance, xenophobia, racial discrimi- nation and hate speech; asylum seekers and immigrants; women’s rights; rights of the child. Greece did not make much progress in Lesser Used Languages. The publication furthering the protection of human rights mentioned the existing minority languages during 2001. The extensive violation of mi- in Greece, namely, Aromanian, Arvanite, nority rights continued despite sharp criti- Macedonian, Pomak, and Turkish. Mr Blet- cism from the relevant international bodies. sas was subsequently acquitted on appeal In addition, Greece has been classified as on 18 December. one of the States with a democratic gov- Journalists often faced abuses and in- ernment that makes the least effort to terference with their work by politicians, combat trafficking in women, while also businessmen and policemen. demonstrating one of the lowest levels of N tolerance of freedom of expression. On 9 January, Stavros Papadopoulos, a Furthermore, there continued to be New Democracy Party MP, assaulted Dimit- cases of flagrant police misconduct ris Kassapidis, a journalist and editor of the throughout the year, including irresponsible local magazine Dromena for writing a satir- shootings both at immigrants trying to cross ical article depicting the MP as a populist. the border and at members of unpopular N On 30 March Manthos Evangeliou, a minorities. These often resulted in deaths. Star television correspondent and contribu- The dissemination of racist and xenophobic tor to the Patras-based newspapers, Kirikas statements also added to the human rights and Yegonota, was attacked in the city by problems in Greece during the year. Greek Coast Guards whilst photographing NATO ships anchored in the port for naval Freedom of Expression and Media manoeuvres. Freedom House ranked Greece as the N country displaying the least respect for free- On 3 April, Eleftherotypia’s Makis No- dom of speech out of all those countries daros had his papers confiscated while cov- with long-standing democratic traditions.2 ering a trial on a hit-and-run automobile manslaughter case of a Ukrainian worker by N On 12 January the publisher of the a wealthy local businessman. daily Adesmeftos Typos, Dimitris Rizos, was sentenced to six months imprison- N On 12 April, Fotini Panagopoulou, a jour- ment (subsequently released on appeal) nalist from the Simaia newspaper in Kala- for slandering Kostas Mitsis, the publisher mata, was assaulted by Michalis Murgelas, an of another newspaper also called Ades- officer of the Municipal city police, after Ms meftos Typos. Panagopoulou had photographed him. N On 2 February, Sotiris Bletsas from the Society for Aromanian Culture, received a Torture, Ill-Treatment and Police suspended sentence of 15 months impris- Misconduct onment and a DRS 500,000 (about 1,667 Police brutality against immigrants and Euro) fine for allegedly disseminating false detainees continued to plague Greek soci- information at an Aromanian festival where ety during 2001 as a result of the general he had distributed a publication from the situation of impunity of police misconduct. European Union’s semi-official Bureau for There were several cases of police shoot- GREECE 153 ings resulting in deaths: On 24 October the Roma men alleged that they were beaten 21- year-old unarmed Romani man, Mari- and repeatedly kicked by the policemen. nos Christopoulos, was murdered during a N On 1 November, in Zaharo, Yiorgos Pa- road check in Zefyri; on 21 November, the nayotopoulos (16) was arrested with his re- 20-year-old Gentjan Celniku, of Albanian latives for carrying illegal arms. While in de- background, was murdered during an iden- tention, a policeman reportedly beat Mr Pa- tity check in central Athens; and on 1 De- nayotopoulos, placed a loaded gun to his cember, the Albanian, Halim Munga, was head and threatened to assault him sexually. killed near the Greek border. The 17-year- old Albanian, Afrim Salla, was “lucky” Conditions in Prisons and Detention enough to stay alive, although paralyzed for Facilities life, after Greek soldiers opened fire on him near the town of Kastoria. In 2001 the European Court of Human Roma were the most abused group in Rights convicted Greece for violation of Greece, followed by the Albanians. How- Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhu- ever, more Albanians were killed by law en- man and degrading treatment), in deten- forcement officials. In addition, there were tion facilities3 and prisons4. On 8 May, the also cases of police attacks on ethnic UN Committee against Torture (CAT) stat- Greeks. For example: ed that detention facilities in Greece were N In February, 16-year-old Refat Tafili was characterized by excessive and unjustified arrested in Athens. The severe mistreat- police violence, especially against minori- ment he allegedly was exposed to whilst in ties and foreigners; harsh detention police custody resulted in a double rupture regimes; and excessively prolonged deten- of his spleen and an emergency operation. tion of undocumented migrants and asy- lum-seekers awaiting deportation. N In late May, 164 asylum seekers (in- Overcrowding was the main problem cluding 20 women and 25 children) and in detention facilities – something that was others were towed away by the Greek acknowledged even by the Planning Direc- Coast Guard in Crete, who allegedly as- torate of the Ministry of the Environment, saulted most of the male migrants and in- Planning and Public Works, which stated in flicted injuries on at least 16 of them. July 2001 that around 8,295 inmates were Around the same time Piraeus coast- accommodated in a space officially desig- guardsmen ran after and fired gunshots at nated for no more than 5,267 detainees. five or six Kurdish detainees who had man- Greece’s largest prison establishment, the aged to escape into a schoolyard. Korydallos Prison Complex, was a case in point. In February, 2,193 inmates were N On 15 June, police in Athens arrested spread between the 640 places available. Rom Andreas Kalamiotes for making too This demonstrated that the situation in that much noise with his friends. At the time of prison had become even worse since the arrest, Mr Kalamiotes was allegedly beaten visit by the European Committee for the with truncheons and repeatedly insulted Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or with racial slurs. Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) N In the night of 4-5 August, Nikos Theo- in 1999. In addition, overcrowding was doropoulos (19), Nikos Theodoropoulos supplemented by “traditional” problems (18), Nikos Tsitsikos (23), Vasileios Theo- such as lack of physical exercise, ventila- doropoulos (17), and Theodore Stefanou tion, appropriate health care and vocational (16) were all arrested in connection with activities, as well as the widespread avail- the robbery of an Argostoli kiosk. All young ability of drugs. 154 GREECE Asylum seekers were detained for long all relevant torture and inhuman and de- periods of time in conditions, which consti- grading treatment provisions of international tuted torture and degrading treatment, in- law, including Article 3 of the ECHR. cluding lack of proper ventilation and phys- In June, the detention centre on ical exercise, lack of proper food, insuffi- Asklipiou Street in Piraeus had 18 de- cient supply of water, and overall unhy- tainees, 11 of whom had been in detention gienic and unhealthy living conditions. In awaiting deportation for 3 to 11 months in some cases asylum-seekers were physical- violation of Article 44(3) of the new Law ly assaulted and were almost never al- 2910/01. The conditions under which visi- lowed to see a doctor to treat and docu- tors could communicate with the detainees ment their injuries. In cases where asylum- were unacceptable: a detainee could talk to seekers had expressly sought permission to a visitor from behind bars in a corridor, sur- contact the consulate of their country or to rounded by other detainees, and in the consult with a lawyer, they were allegedly presence of police officers standing a few not supplied with the appropriate phone steps away. Responding to the persistent numbers. The few who were permitted to calls of the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) consult a lawyer were not guaranteed con- and the Greek Ombudsman, in late July, the fidential meetings, as none of the police es- General Secretariat of the Attica Region ex- tablishments they were kept in offered fa- amined the Piraeus detention centre files, cilities for that purpose. The CPT itself had including the files of another 59 detainees confirmed this in its earlier visit to Greece. elsewhere, and ordered their release. Across almost all detention facilities, de- tainees were not informed of their rights in Religious Intolerance a language they understood, both during There were incidents of religious dis- their arrest and – where applicable – during crimination at all levels. their subsequent trial: In addition, many N The Medical Military Unit of Arta’s can- were forced to sign documents in Greek, teen was scheduled as the location for a clearly unaware of their content. Later, in separate 14 December oath-giving cere- some cases, these documents were used mony for two Catholic Christians and three as incriminating evidence against them and Muslims. They were officially segregated helped prepare