Greece

(GHM/IFEX) – Four journalists have been recently sentenced to jail in Greece. 1. On 17 September 1998, journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos was convicted and given a suspended sentence of eight months for the defamation of Minister of Justice Evangelos Yannopoulos, in an article in the daily “Kalimera” in January 1998. In the article, he had argued […]

(GHM/IFEX) – The cooperating organizations Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group – Greece express their strong condemnation of the government’s intent to introduce amendments that will severely limit freedom of speech in the electronic media. **This press release contains information further to IFEX alert of 24 August 1998** On 18 August 1998, Minister of […]

(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is most concerned about proposed legislation that would make broadcasting “slanderous and insulting matter” a criminal offence in Greece. Under the legislation, proposed on 18 August 1998 by Justice Minister Evangelos Yannopoulos, existing slander and libel laws would be expanded to include a minimum two-year sentence for radio and television journalists, as […]

(GHM/IFEX) – GMH would like to issue the following clarification of the meaning of the term “Pontic”, which was the subject of an Application for Summary Measures against the “Dictionary of Modern Greek Language”, written by Professor George Babiniotis. The application was heard on 20 July 1998, by a Salonica court, for the entry of […]

(GHM/IFEX) – On 13 July 1998, the “Single-Member First Instance Court of Salonica. Procedure for Summary Measures” (Judge Nikolaos Tsakos), with its 18134/1998 Verdict, ordered “the removal from the “Dictionary of Modern Greek Language”, in every future reprint or edition (…) of the entry “Bulgarian (…) 2. (abusive) the follower or player of a Salonica […]

(GHM/IFEX) – Contrary to information provided in the IFEX alert update of 18 June, which stated that charges had been dropped against her, teacher Eva Androutsopoulou was in fact found innocent of charges of proselytism in a trial that began and ended on 18 June. The trial went through all procedures (procedural questions and examination […]

(GHM/IFEX) – Greek Helsinki Monitor reports that the charges against teacher Eva Androutsopoulou for proselytism have been dropped. **Updates IFEX alert dated 27 May 1998** Background Information Androutsopoulou was to have gone on trial on 18 June in Komotini (in northeastern Greece) for the violation of Article 4 of the Obligatory Law 1363/1938. She was […]

(GHM/IFEX) – According to GHM, a report from the Reuters news agency has confirmed that a Greek court has slapped a temporary injunction on sales of a dictionary in the latest round of a dispute over an allegedly insulting definition contained in the book. On 26 May 1998, court officials in Thessaloniki (in northern Greece) […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, on 1 April 1998, an Athens court sustained on appeal the prison sentence of four years and two months for “libel” and “filing a false document” against Makis Psomiadis, journalist and owner of the daily “Onoma”, and ordered that he be incarcerated. The court also refused to allow this sentence […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 13 November 1997, on orders of a prosecutor, police arrested Stravros Statopoulos, a radio technician for Athens International which broadcasts English-language programming of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The programming itself was also seized. Athens International reportedly “violated the rules on radio frequencies.” The actions by police followed a complaint lodged by […]

Vassilis Rafailidis, a journalist, has been sentenced to four months in prison by the court at Drama. He is accused of having insulted the mayor of Prototsani, Constantin Raias, in an article published in the daily “Ethnos” in December 1994. The article denounced the actions of the Mayor after about fifty Jehovah’s Witnesses were attacked […]