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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.