TITLE: GREECE HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994 AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DATE: FEBRUARY 1995 GREECE Greece is a constitutional republic and multiparty parliamentary democracy. In 1993 parliamentary elections, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won a comfortable majority, and its leader, Andreas Papandreou, became Prime Minister. The defeated New Democracy Party assumed the role of the main opposition. Police and security services are subject to a broad variety of legal and constitutional restraints. The Greek Parliament, a vigorous free press, the judiciary, committees and deputies of the European Parliament, and Greek and international human rights organizations monitor their activities. These institutions and groups brought to light cases of improper activities and pressed the Government to halt such activities. Nevertheless, credible reports indicated that police continued to mistreat suspects during interrogation in some drug and other criminal investigations. Greece has a mixed capitalist economy in which the entrepreneurial system is overlaid by a large public sector which accounts for about 60 percent of gross domestic product. Low growth, a high inflation rate, a large budget deficit, and a 10-percent unemployment rate characterize the economy. To promote further economic development, Greece relies heavily on the European Union (EU) for subsidies and loans. The Constitution provides for, and, with some exceptions in the cases of ethnic Turks and individuals who identify themselves as Macedonians, the authorities generally respect, fundamental human rights. There continued to be credible reports that Greek police and military personnel abused Albanian illegal aliens. Albanian authorities formally protested the mid- August-November roundup and expulsion of over 115,000 illegal Albanian migrants from Greece, which they claimed resulted in the deaths of 6 to 8 persons. The Government continued to use Article 19 of the Citizenship Code to revoke the citizenship of Greek citizens who are not ethnically Greek, despite public assurances by senior government officials in 1991 that it would repeal Article 19. Government officials harassed and placed under surveillance international and domestic human rights monitors. In May the courts accepted a lawsuit initiated by a private citizen and joined by the Public Prosecutor against Christos Sideropoulos under Article 191 of the Criminal Code for statements Sideropoulos allegedly made at a Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) press conference in Copenhagen in 1990. The trial was postponed in October for 1 year because the plaintiff, a lawyer from Piraeus, failed to show up on the appointed date. The Government recognizes only one minority, the Muslim minority referred to in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and refuses to acknowledge the existence of any other national (i.e., non-Greek) minority. It does not deny the existence of Greeks of Turkish, Pomak, Vlach, Arvenite, or Roma ethnic background, or of various linguistic or religious communities. The Government denies, however, members of the Slavophone community the right to declare themselves a Macedonian minority (see Section 2.b.). Responding to a Council of Europe (COE) team of international monitors which issued a report on its visits to police stations, prisons, and psychiatric hospitals, the Government took corrective action to relieve severe overcrowding and harsh living conditions in some prisons. Almost all pending cases restricting freedom of expression have been dropped since the repeal in December 1993 of a law against "insulting authority," with the exception of two. Several religious minorities report a diminution in discrimination and religious persecution. One instance of prosecution for religious proselytizing was reported in 1994. RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing There were no reports of political killing, but there were several reports of persons killed while in official custody. The Albanian Government twice protested killings by Greek police or military personnel of six to eight Albanians who had illegally entered Greece. In the first case, the Albanian Government in March described the Greek shooting while in custody of an apprehended illegal Albanian alien, Alfred Abas Muco, 21 years old. After a military investigation, the Greek Government replied that Muco's killing was accidental. In the second case, on August 22, the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the killing of Ormen Gjoka and maiming of Ali Reci (broken back) while in Greek custody during the Greeks' forcible expulsion of Albanians. Greece returned Gjoka's body and Reci to Albania on August 23 without publicity or explanation. The Albanian Government also protested the deaths of six unnamed Albanians during the Greek roundup and expulsion of Albanian aliens in August-September. Of the six, one was reportedly a 19-year-old woman, shot in the head; another was a 21-year-old man, shot in the back. Two others of the six reportedly drowned in a river during flight from pursuing Greek police. It was not known whether the six dead referred to include Ormen Gjoka, mentioned above. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that it requested but did not receive identifying information about the six from the Albanian Government to aid investigation of the cases, and it is not known if any investigation was conducted. The Government has not provided any further information on the army's investigation of the February 27, 1993, incident in which a Greek soldier shot an Albanian. After a request by the German Embassy in Athens for a followup investigation into the death of Ramon Joachim Schulz, the Government reaffirmed the conclusion of the original investigation, that Schulz died of a heart attack, despite evidence to the contrary. Greek terrorists attacked and killed three persons in 1994--a Turkish diplomat, a prominent Greek banker, and a Greek policeman. There have been no arrests made in these cases. b. Disappearance No cases of disappearances were reported in 1994. The case of two ethnic Greeks of Albanian citizenship who disappeared on March 4, 1993, remained unsolved. The Government claimed that the two were not in custody when they disappeared, although Amnesty International reported that they were seen being arrested by an armed policeman, and initially the police confirmed they were holding them. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment The Constitution specifically forbids torture, and a 1984 law made the use of torture an offense punishable by a sentence of from 3 years to life imprisonment. However, this law has never been invoked, even though there were credible reports that police and military personnel beat and otherwise ill-treated illegal Albanian aliens in the process of deporting them in August and September. The Government denied such reports. A December 1993 report by the COE's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) concluded that certain categories of persons detained or arrested by the police, particularly persons arrested for drug-related offenses or for serious crimes such as murder, rape, or robbery, run a significant risk of being ill-treated and are occasionally subjected to severe ill- treatment or torture. The report stressed that the Government should examine diligently all allegations of ill-treatment and prosecute and punish offenders. It also emphasized the need for additional education for police on human rights questions; better training in modern investigation techniques; and the acquisition and development of interpersonal communication skills by police officers. Finally, it stressed the need to strengthen formal safeguards against the ill-treatment of persons detained by the police, including the right to access to a lawyer from the outset of detention. The COE report stated that allegations of ill-treatment included kicks, punches, slaps, stamping on feet, as well as blows with the butt of a pistol or wooden sticks. The report also noted allegations of an even more serious kind, in particular of falaka (beating on the soles of the feet) and the administration of electric shocks; it indicated that the Athens and Thessaloniki police had inflicted such treatment at police headquarters. The COE team's medical personnel confirmed that physical evidence from the victims was consistent with their allegations. In addition, the COE team observed a variety of unlabeled wooden sticks and batons at the Thessaloniki police headquarters, as well as a hand-held device for delivering electric shocks which was discovered in the personal locker of a police officer attached to the Thessaloniki police headquarters. The Government conducted its own internal review of these charges and reported in August on the status of 33 lawsuits filed against policemen in the period 1989-1993 for abuse, torture, and ill-treatment. Twenty cases were still pending in court or under investigation; in three cases, the police officers were found innocent; one police officer was sentenced to 2 years in prison for slapping a prisoner in the face; and in nine cases the charges were dropped. The Government refused to accept the Committee's observations concerning investigation methods, torture, and ill-treatment, dismissing them as without foundation. The COE report described conditions of detention in police establishments visited as varying from adequate to extremely poor and in one case as inhuman. It noted prompt compliance with a recommendation to close cells in two police stations immediately. There were few reports of physical abuse from most prisons, although the COE report cited ill-treatment of prisoners by prison staff at the Larissa prison as an exception. According to another credible report, two Albanian prisoners who attempted to escape in 1993 from a prison on the island of Kos were beaten severely after their recapture. An investigation by the Ministry of Justice resulted in bringing charges in September against three prison guards for "dangerous bodily harm" and against another for "simple bodily harm." In April the Ministry issued strict instructions to prison wardens to prevent physical abuse of the incarcerated. The Minister of Justice personally conducted followup investigations and visited prisons. The wardens of two prisons were fired for misconduct and failing to follow or enforce proper guidelines for treatment of prisoners. The Ministry has announced a training program for prison guards to prevent abuse of prisoners, but it has not yet begun. Prison overcrowding, particularly at the Korydallos prison near Athens, was relieved in 1994 as a result of a new law which permits parole after a prisoner has served two-fifths (versus the previous three-fifths) of a prison term. Implementation of this law resulted in the release of 1,200 prisoners by July, roughly 1 out of every 6 of the total prison population. The Justice Ministry also implemented special prison programs for the treatment of drug addicts and a pilot vocational training, legal, and mental health counseling program for juveniles. A new detention and court center was opened in Thessaloniki; the old center had been cited in the COE report as particularly inadequate. Prison conditions for conscientious objectors improved somewhat in 1994, as a result of government action to reduce overcrowding. In addition, the Government began renovations to the Kassandra prison, which was notorious for its poor living, health, and sanitary conditions. The COE team provided an independent monitor of prison, police station, and psychiatric hospital conditions. Such independent monitoring, however, was not regularly scheduled. d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile The Constitution requires judicial warrants for all arrests, except during the actual commission of a crime, and the law prohibits arbitrary arrest orders. The police do not always respect these safeguards (see below). Police must, by law, bring a person arrested on the basis of a warrant or while committing a crime before an examining magistrate within 24 hours. The magistrate must issue a detention warrant or order the release of the detainee within 3 days, unless special circumstances require a 2-day extension of this time limit. Defendants brought to court before the end of the day following the commission of a charged offense may be tried immediately, under a "speedy procedure." Although legal safeguards, including representation by counsel, apply in speedy procedure cases, the short period of time may inhibit the defendant's ability to present an adequate defense. Defendants may ask for a delay to provide time to prepare their defense, but the court is not obliged to grant it. The speedy procedure was used in less than 10 percent of misdemeanor cases. It was not used at all for felonies. Despite these legal safeguards, the police sometimes violate them. For example, both the COE team and Greek defense lawyers stated that the police, during investigation of serious crimes, occasionally interrogated suspects as "witnesses," allegedly because witnesses do not have the right to legal representation during police questioning. Statements made to the police in these circumstances may be used against these persons in court if they are later charged and brought to trial. Witnesses do not have the legal right to remain silent, although no one is required to testify against himself. In such cases access to a lawyer may be effectively denied until after interrogation, which in some cases has resulted in torture or ill-treatment and the subsequent signing of a statement. These circumstances were reportedly most likely to occur in the case of serious crimes, including drug offenses, in which the police did not have sufficient evidence to convict without a confession. The Government did not prosecute and punish any officials for such misconduct during the year. The effective maximum duration of pretrial detention was 18 months for felonies and 9 months for misdemeanors. A panel of judges may grant release pending trial, with or without bail. A person convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to 2 years or less may, at the court's discretion, pay a fine in lieu of being imprisoned. The percentage of the incarcerated population comprised of pretrial detainees was 33 percent, according to government sources. There were no reports of incommunicado detention. Exile is unconstitutional, and no cases have been reported since the restoration of democracy in 1974. However, Greek citizens not of ethnic Greek origin who travel outside the country may be deprived of their citizenship and refused readmittance to the country under Article 19 of the Citizenship Code. Article 20 of the Code permits the Government to strip citizenship from those who "commit acts contrary to the interests of Greece for the benefit of a foreign state." (See Section 2.d. for more information on the application of these articles.) e. Denial of Fair Public Trial The judicial system includes three levels of courts, appointed judges, an examining magistrate system, trial by judicial panel, and the right of appeal by both prosecution and defense. The Constitution provides for the independence of the judiciary, but there are credible charges that judges sometimes allow political criteria, including the desire to obtain promotion, to influence their judgments. Judges are not appointed for life. Mandatory retirement ages vary with the type of court. Some judges expressed concern that the change in the way judges are selected might affect the independence of the judiciary. Previously, they were elected by their peers, but under the new law they are chosen by their superiors. The Government has taken Christos Sideropoulos to trial five times in 4 years for speaking publicly about the existence and rights of what he identifies as a Macedonian minority. A case brought by a private citizen was accepted and joined by the prosecutor in May despite the fact that the allegedly offensive statements were made at a CSCE conference in Denmark in 1990. Under Article 6 of the Criminal Code, Greek citizens may be prosecuted for actions committed abroad only if those actions are punishable under the laws of that country. Sideroupoulos's alleged statements do not constitute an offense under Danish law, but Greek courts and the Greek Government permitted the case to go to trial; in September, the scheduled trial was postponed for 1 year. The Constitution provides for public trials, and trial court sessions are open to the public, unless the court decides that privacy is required to protect victims and witnesses or national security matters. According to defense attorneys, the latter provision has not been invoked since the restoration of democracy in 1974. The defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence, the standard of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the right to present evidence and witnesses, the right of access to the prosecution's evidence, the right to cross- examine witnesses, and the right to counsel. Lawyers are provided to defendants (in felony cases, only) who are not able to afford legal counsel. The legal system does not discriminate against women or minorities, with one clear exception: Article 19 of the Citizenship Code (see Section 2.d.) applies only to Greek citizens who are not ethnically Greek. As noted above, the courts continue to permit prosecutions of minority activists who violated laws that limit freedom of expression (see Section 2.a.). However, no one was imprisoned as a result of such charges in the last 5 years. Those convicted have been allowed to convert their convictions to a fine of about $4.00 a day. f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence Although the Constitution prohibits invasion of privacy and searches without warrants, and the law permits monitoring personal communications only under strict judicial controls, the variety of persons and groups subjected to government surveillance in recent years raises questions about safeguards. Targets included human rights monitors, non- Orthodox religious groups, and activist members of minority groups. In June a parliamentary investigation committee recommended indictment of former Prime Minister Mitsotakis and 30 persons from the former Mitsotakis administration on charges of wiretapping political opponents from 1989 to 1991. In January 1995, the Parliament voted to drop all charges against Mitsotakis. The others will be tried in criminal courts in 1995. The security services continued to monitor human rights and minority group representatives and foreign diplomats who met with such individuals. Human rights monitors also reported the continuation of suspicious openings and diversions of mail, some of which was never delivered but was subsequently published in newspapers with apparent links to Greek security services. So far as is known, the Government took no steps to stop such practices or to prosecute those involved. Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including: a. Freedom of Speech and Press Freedom of speech and press is provided for in the Constitution and generally respected in practice, but with some significant exceptions. Some legal restrictions on free speech remain in force and were invoked in one case in 1994 concerning the right of an individual to identify himself as a member of a Macedonian minority in Greece. The charges in this case were based on what the individual said, not on violent acts or criminal behavior. On matters other than those involving the question of ethnic minorities, Greece enjoys a tradition of outspoken public discourse and a vigorous free press. Satirical and opposition newspapers do not hesitate to attack the highest state authorities. According to journalists, self-censorship was practiced on national security and Greek national identity issues. The Constitution allows for seizure (though not prior restraint), by order of the public prosecutor, of publications that insult the President, offend religious beliefs, contain obscene articles, advocate violent overthrow of the political system, or disclose military and defense information. Seizures have been rare, however, and did not occur in 1994. In December 1993, the Government repealed a law which forbade "insulting authority" and outlawed prosecution of otherwise actionable "offenses committed by or through the press." As a result of these changes, a number of trials involving restrictions on freedom of speech initiated under the previous government, including the cases of five Trotskyites and two journalists, were terminated. With the December 1993 repeal of an antiterrorism law, the Government lifted restrictions on the publishing of the communications of terrorist groups; this provided a forum for the publication of the proclamations of Greek terrorist groups during a period of stepped-up terrorist activity. Several other articles of the Penal Code which were used in the past to restrict free speech and press remain in force. (Article 141 of the Penal Code forbids "exposing the friendly relations of the Greek State with foreign states to danger of disturbance;" Article 191 of the Code prohibits "spreading false information and rumors liable to create concern and fear among citizens and cause disturbances in the country's international relations and inciting citizens to rivalry and division, leading to disturbance of the peace.") The Government continues to use laws to charge individuals who raise politically sensitive topics, such as relations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the assertion of ethnic minority identification. An example is the case of Christos Sideropoulos, who described himself as a Macedonian activist (see Section 1.e.). Two other freedom of expression cases from previous years are scheduled to be heard by appeals courts in 1995. On April 14, charges were dropped against Sadik Ahmet Sadik for an article he published in 1989 in which he alleged discrimination and repression against ethnic Turks in Greece. Sadik also appealed to the Supreme Court a February 1 conviction by the First Appeal Court in Thessaloniki for falsifying signatures on a petition he circulated among the Muslims of Thrace. Two other cases pending against Sadik involve charges of theft, unlawful entry in public buildings, and inciting violence during altercations with the authorities in Thrace about new textbooks distributed by the Greek Government in 1992. These two cases have been postponed. The 1975 Constitution provides that the State exercise "immediate control" over radio and television. An independent, government-appointed body with the authority to enact rules governing private broadcasting established procedural regulations for radio several years ago. In 1993 it did so for television as well, issuing licenses to six private stations. Many other private television stations operated without licenses, however. State-run stations tended to emphasize the Government's views and positions but also reported objectively on other parties' programs and positions. Throughout much of western Thrace, Turkish-language satellite television broadcasts are widely available. The mayors of two cities in the region set up satellite ground stations for their Turkish-speaking constituents. Eleven Turkish-language publications--eight weekly newspapers and three monthly magazines--are published and circulated in Thrace. Newspapers and other periodicals from Turkey are distributed in small numbers when brought in by taxis and travelers. Academic freedoms are respected. b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly. Police permits were routinely issued for public demonstrations, and there were no reports that the permit requirement was abused. The Constitution provides for the right of association, which was generally respected, except in cases involving ethnic minorities. In 1994 the Supreme Court upheld the 1991 decision of lower courts to deny registration to the "Macedonian Cultural Center" in Florina, organized by Greeks who consider themselves of Slavic descent. The 1991 ruling held that "the true goal of the society...is to affirm the idea of the existence of a Macedonian minority in Greece, which contradicts (Greece's) national interests and the law." The organizers planned to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights. Greek authorities, while recognizing a Muslim minority, did not recognize the existence of other minorities based on ethnic grounds (see Section 5). This is contrary to the 1990 Copenhagen document of the CSCE to which the Government is a party, which asserts that "to belong to a national minority is a matter of a person's individual choice." c. Freedom of Religion The Constitution establishes the Greek Orthodox Church, to which perhaps 95 percent of the population at least nominally adhere, as the prevailing religion but prohibits discrimination against religious minorities. The Greek Orthodox Church wields significant influence through its relationship with the Ministry of Education and Religion. Religious training is mandatory in Greek public schools for Greek Orthodox pupils. Non-Orthodox students are exempt from this requirement. However, there are reports from Helsinki Monitor (Greece) that some schoolteachers force Jehovah's Witnesses students to attend Orthodox services. The Constitution limits religious practice by prohibiting proselytizing. In contrast to past years, in 1994 only one arrest for proselytizing by other faiths was reported. In January police in Thessaloniki arrested two members of the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) for violating immigration law and jailed them overnight. After a 10-day trial, they were acquitted. The Church complained in September of harassment by local thugs in Piraeus but at the same time reported a generally improved relationship with local police. Traditionally, Jehovah's Witnesses ministers were not granted the exemption from military service accorded under Greek law to clergy of "known religions" and thus served prison sentences for refusing military service. Since 1990-91, the Council of State, the highest court dealing with civil and administrative matters whose opinions are binding on the Government, has ruled that the Jehovah's Witnesses were a "known religion" and has ordered the release of ministers who had refused induction. However, the recruiting service of the armed forces regarded these rulings as applying only to individual appellants, not as binding precedents for subsequent Jehovah's Witnesses ministers who were called up. It thus continued to rely, in the first instance, on the opinion of the Ministry of Education and Religion, which in turn accepted the view of the Greek Orthodox Church that the Jehovah's Witnesses are not a "known religion." As a consequence, for the past few years, ministers of the Jehovah's Witnesses have been called up for military service and prosecuted for refusal; only after conviction could they appeal to the Council of State for exemptions as ministers of a "known religion." In practice, these ministers have spent periods of a few months to over a year in jail while appealing their cases to the Council of State. In contrast to past years, in 1994 only one arrest for proselytizing by other faiths was reported. A Jehovah Witnesses canvasser was arrested in Volos on October 14, and the local public prosecutor charged him with proselytizing. He was subsequently released pending hearing of the case in 1995. To open and operate a house of worship in Greece requires approval by the Ministry of Education and Religion. The Ministry bases its decision on the advisory opinion of the local Orthodox bishop. In recent years, it has not been uncommon for such permission to be delayed or even, at times, withheld, though some denominations have been able to open and operate churches in the guise of cultural centers.