[ALBSA-Info] On Freedom of Expression in Southeastern Europe

[Agron Alibali]

Subject: Greece report/action alert (foe and media in
1999
From: IFEX Action Alert Network by 
 


IFEX- News from the international freedom of
expression community
_________________________________________________________________

REPORT/ACTION ALERT - GREECE

14 January 2000

Freedom of expression and the media in 1999

SOURCE: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), Glyka Nera

(GHM/IFEX) - The following is an excerpt on freedom of
expression and media
from a 7 January 2000 joint GHM and Minority Rights
Group-Greece annual
report on human rights in Greece:

GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM)
MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP-GREECE (MRG-G)
P.O. Box 60820 GR-15304 Glyka Nera Greece
Tel. +30-1-347.22.59 Fax +30-1-601.87.60
e-mail: offic- at greekhelsinki.gr web page:
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr

HUMAN RIGHTS IN GREECE:
JOINT CONCISE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1999

7 January 2000

GHM and MRG-G Focus: Freedom of expression and media;
conscientious
objectors; protection of ethnic minorities;
citizenship; religious
tolerance; protection of asylum seekers and
immigrants; harassment of human
rights activists.

Introduction

The most positive development in 1999, with lasting
effects, was the
consistently commendable work of the Ombudsman's
office, set up in October
1998. His reports have provided official documentation
to many longtime
human rights violations and offered concrete
solutions, some of which were
soon after implemented. Moreover, in late July 1999,
for the first time in
Greece's modern history, there was a debate on the
possible modernization of
the country's minority and citizenship policies. Under
the impetus of
Foreign Minister George Papandreou, a renowned
supporter of
multiculturalism, the public was informed that Greece
was finally moving
towards the application of the internationally
accepted norms for national
minorities and the recognition of the right to
self-identification for
Macedonians and Turks. However, this created a general
backlash among
politicians and media against the Minister, and the
minority and human
rights NGOs that had previously made similar demands:
as a result, the
ratification of the Framework Convention on National
Minorities, announced
for the fall, was postponed indefinitely.

Many Greek journalists faced charges for criticizing
public officials and/or
were convicted to prison sentences for libel.
Self-censorship and distortion
of information were present in the coverage of the
NATO air strikes on the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Alternative civilian
service was made
available to Conscientious Objectors, yet its
application in practice
continued to be punitive. Religious minorities faced
different forms of
discrimination by various local officials. Some
Macedonians born in Greece
continued to have problems entering their fatherland.
The Roma minority
faced numerous evictions, horrendous health and
hygienic conditions, as well
as social marginalization. There remained stateless
people, recurrently
harassed by the authorities. Immigrants faced
discrimination and xenophobia
and were unfoundedly blamed for the rise of
criminality. The activities of
human rights and minority organizations were
occasionally met with hostility
and predominant 'hate speech' in the media.

Freedom of Expression and the Media

In general, Greek media were free, but there were
still cases of journalists
brought to court for alleged crimes related to the
exercise of their
profession. Despite multiple appeals by GHM and
international freedom of
expression organizations, Greece continued to punish
journalists with prison
sentences in cases of libel or defamation and to
prosecute them for the
publication of leaked confidential documents.

- In a positive development, on 21 January 1999, an
Appeals Court acquitted
Yannis Tzoumas, journalist and publisher of Alithia, a
daily on the island
of Chios. Tzoumas had been convicted in 1998 to four
months' imprisonment
for defamation because his paper had called Minister
Stavros Soumakis
"minister of the ship owners ... who sunbathes at the
villas of the ship
owners." During the first instance trial, the facts
were confirmed as
accurate, but the court considered the "harsh style"
of the article
defamatory. The Appeals Court confirmed the veracity
of the facts and stated
that there was no intent to defame the minister but
only to criticize his
behavior, albeit in harsh style.

- Also in January 1999, the Supreme Court overturned a
July 1998 censorship
verdict. A Thessaloniki court had ordered the removal
from the Dictionary of
the Modern Greek Language, in every future reprint or
edition, of the
mention to the abusive use of the word "Bulgarian" to
mean players and fans
of soccer teams based in Thessaloniki, northern
Greece. In the verdict, the
Supreme Court stated that the disputed dictionary
entry did constitute an
offence against the plaintiff (lawyer and elected city
councilor of
Thessaloniki, Theodore Aspasidis), but that the
offence was not against the
law, as it was included in a scholarly publication,
and there was no intent
to offend the plaintiff.

- On 7 March 1999, the Chief Prosecutor of the First
Instance Court of
Athens, G. Koliokostas, brought criminal charges for
disclosure of state
secrets -punishable with up to ten years imprisonment
under article 146 of
the penal code- against all those responsible for the
publication on 6 March
in the country's largest daily newspaper Ta Nea of a
top secret report. The
report was written by Greek Ambassador to Kenya G.
Kostoulas and covered the
events that contributed to Ocalan's capture by Turkey.
In October, reporter
George Papachristou and his publisher Leon
Karapanayotis -charged as an
instigating principal under article 46- answered the
charges to the
investigating judge. The case is expected to go to
court in 2000.

- In March 1999 journalist Manolis Vasilakis was fired
by the Exousia
newspaper for an article in which he was examining the
role of the
nationalist group 'Network 21' in the Ocalan case.
Network 21 members have
since filed suits for aggravated defamation in civil
courts, against him and
many more journalists who made similar arguments,
asking for
disproportionate fines of hundreds of million of drs
($1=app. 300drs).

- On 4 May 1999, a Three-Member Misdemeanor Court of
Xanthi convicted Greek
Helsinki Monitor Spokesperson Panayote Dimitras to a
suspended sentence of 5
months in prison for defamation of minority lawyer
Orhan Hadjiibram. P.
Dimitras was never properly summoned and was
nevertheless tried in
abstentia. The court considered defamatory a GHM
statement critical of
Hadjiibram's handling of the stateless issue, even
though it stated that the
facts therein were true. The court did not specify
which words, phrases or
sentences were defamatory, but considered that there
was intent to defame
the lawyer. An appeal is set for 12 January 2000.

- On 18 May 1999, journalist Dimitris Rizos, editor
and publisher of the
"Adesmeftos Typos" daily, was given by a Three-Member
Misdemeanor Court of
Athens a five-month suspended sentence for insulting
George Papazoglou, a
former cadre of the newspaper. The incriminating text
did include insulting
characterizations of Papazoglou. Rizos was set free on
appeal.

- On 19 May 1999, journalist Charalambos
Triantafyllidis, editor and
publisher of the Enimerosi weekly (in Florina,
northwestern Greece), was
convicted by the three-member Appeals Court in Kozani,
and given a
five-month suspended prison sentence for insulting
Florina's then
prefect-elect Pavlos Altanis, on 11 November 1998. The
incriminating text
was nothing more than strong criticism of the alleged
clientelistic and
revengeful actions of the newly elected prefect and
had no outright
insulting characteristics that could stand in a fair
court. Triantafyllidis
was also given a fine of GDR 500,000 (approx. USD
1,635) for damages.

- On 21 May 1999, Dimitris Rizos was convicted by a
Three-Member Appeals
Court of Athens to twelve months in prison for the
repeated aggravated
defamation of four members of the board of directors
of the rival Eleftheros
Typos daily. His incriminating interview to a
television station in
September 1994 did include unsubstantiated allegations
of embezzlement of
funds. Rizos' sentence was converted to a pecuniary
one. He bought it off
and was set free.

- On 1 June 1999, Vicky Bataya, publisher of "High"
magazine, was convicted
by a Three-Member Misdemeanor Court of Athens to 18
months in prison for
aggravated defamation of singer George Dalaras. She
was set free on appeal.

- In another positive development, on 28 June 1999, an
Appeals Court
converted to a fine a previously imposed three-year
sentence to the
publisher of the daily "To Onoma" Makis Psomaidis for
aggravated defamation
of Minister Costas Laliotis. In 1998, the latter was
first convicted to four
years in prison, and the Supreme Court had partially
overturned the
judgement. He paid the fine and was set free.

- On 1 September 1999, the publisher of the local
newspaper "Rhodiaki" in
Rhodoes, Athanasios Marasiotis, was briefly arrested
following charges
brought against him for defamation by an individual.
The charges were based
on the fact that the newspaper published an out of
court summons by a
company claiming that the individual owed a large sum
to the company. The
publisher of another local paper, "Proodos," George
Diamantidis, also
charged for the same reason, escaped arrest as he was
absent. It was
reported that the arrests were sought because of past
criticism of the
police by these newspapers.

- In November 1999, the Public Prosecutor of Mytilini
indicted two
journalists for defamation and aggravated defamation
(articles 362 and 363
respectively) after charges were brought by the police
of Lesvos. The two
journalists, Stratis Balaskas and George Kondiloudis,
had written an article
in the Eleftherotypia newspaper. The article referred
to alleged relations
of police officers of Lesvos with smugglers in a local
olive press.

- On 6 December 1999, a three-member Misdemeanor Court
of Athens convicted
Dimitris Rizos, publisher of "Adesmeftos Typos," for
aggravated defamation
of Costas Mitsis, publisher of another newspaper with
the exact same name,
"Adesmeftos Typos." He was sentenced to ten months in
prison and was set
free on appeal.

Although most journalists would deny its existence,
self-censorship,
especially on sensitive "national" issues, is a common
practice among
journalists in order to preserve their jobs and
status. The coverage of the
war in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia provided
several examples in this
respect. In a letter to the Journalists' Union of
Athens (ESIEA), on 4 April
1999, veteran journalist Richardos Someritis stated
that

"... many Greek journalists, mainly in radio and
television broadcasting,
behave like soldiers in the front: they have chosen
their camp, their
uniform, their flag. If they are columnists, it is
their right to do so.
Nevertheless, how come even the Patriarch is censored
by many of the media?
Isn't ESIEA concerned about this problem? Shouldn't it
remind journalists
that their role is to inform? I wonder if our statutes
and our code of
ethics have been replaced by declarations of various
committees of
'friendship' and propaganda."

On 2 April 1999, regarding the closure of the Serbian
radio station B92 by
the Serb authorities, the Greek state news agency
reported on a statement by
the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), but
mentioned none of the
main IFJ arguments. Moreover, the IFJ reference to the
credibility of
military information was selectively distorted while
no reference was made
to the IFJ's denunciation of the information blackout
in Kosovo and the
crackdown on the media in Serbia. Only after GHM
raised the issue, did the
agency write a complete coverage of the story.

On 11 June 1999, the private "Mega Channel" censored
its mandatory
pre-electoral program devoted to presentations by
small parties, by removing
the presentation of "Rainbow," the Macedonian minority
party, while keeping
all other presentations including the one made by the
extreme-right
"National Front". The National Radio and Television
Council did not take the
prescribed by law sanction, while no one condemned
this act of censorship.

On 21 October 1999, two journalists from Halkidiki's
"Super Channel" were
beaten by a mob led by Mayor Costas Papayannis, in
Kasandra, Halkidiki
(Northern Greece). Costas Glykos and Michalis
Katsamiras were covering the
mob's attempt to prevent the local Jehovah's Witnesses
(JWs) from starting
the construction of their house of worship,
construction that had been
authorized by the authorities. During the violent
incident, JWs as well as
two representatives of the Ombudsman's office were
harassed by the mob. The
two journalists and the JWs pressed charges against
the mayor and some
alleged accomplices. On 22 October, the prosecutor
formally indicted the
mayor and his accomplices for crimes that included
inciting to religious
hatred. Nevertheless, neither during the incident, nor
in the ensuing
forty-eight hours, did the police arrest the alleged
perpetrators of the
crimes as called for by the code of criminal
procedure.

On 9 November 1999, an Athens Court postponed for 2000
the trial of Sotiris
Bletsas, member of the Society for Aroumanian (Vlach)
Culture. He was
indicted because in 1995 he had distributed a
publication of the European
Union's Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (in which
Sotiris Bletsas was the
Greek "observer") which mentioned the minority
languages in Greece. The
prosecution for dissemination of false information
(article 191 of the Penal
Code) was triggered by charges pressed by ND deputy
Eugene Haitidis and the
prosecution's witnesses included the leadership of the
Panhellenic Union of
Vlach Associations.

On 2 December 1999, twelve police officers raided the
administrative offices
of the non-profit association 'Biblical Circle'
running Channel Station 2000
Radio, and arrested 73-year-old retired pastor Lakis
Regas, who was working
as a technician on the premises when the police
arrived. Regas spent the
night in jail. He was released the next day by a
judge's order. Greek
authorities accused Channel Station 2000 of not having
the proper operating
license, but it is well known that no private radio
station has ever managed
to get one. A trial was set for 31 January 2000. In
1994, the government had
already shut down Greece's only Evangelical television
station, "Hellas 62."

On 20 October 1999, a citizen's arrest of a
"cameraman" during a
demonstration led to the revelation that, at least
since 1994, police
officers were being officially assigned the duty of
filming demonstrations
and were given professional cards of photo press
agencies as covers.
Following media protests, authorities gave a vague
promise they will stop
such practice.

Finally, Evangelos Yannopoulos, abusing of his
parliamentary immunity and
his influential position of Minister of Justice, has
repeatedly attacked and
insulted journalists or other politicians who have
been vocally critical of
his present or past record, including by bringing
charges against them. On 5
January 2000, a Three-Member Appeals Court of Athens
convicted Prefect of
Athens Theodore Katrivanos to 15 months in prison for
aggravated defamation
of the Minister, because he had challenged the
latter's controversial
resistance record during the Second World War. During
the long trial, the
Minister insulted veteran journalist Yannis Voultepsis
calling him a
"stool;" and brought charges against the communist
daily "Rizospastis" for
aggravated defamation along with a civil suit for 500
million drs. The
newspaper had published Katrivanos' arguments
challenging the Minister's
record. ESIEA protested for the Minister's behavior.

[the full report can be found at:
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/pdf/ghm-mrgg-concise-annual-99.PDF]

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send letters of protest to authorities:

George Papandreou
Foreign Minister
Athens, Greece
Fax: +30 1 368 1433

Dimitris Reppas
Minister of Press and Information
Athens, Greece
Fax: +30 1 360 6969

Evangelos Yannopoulos
Minister of Justice
Athens, Greece
Fax : +30 1 775 5835

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact Panayote Elias
Dimitras at GHM, P.O. Box
60820, GR-15304 Glyka Nera, Greece, tel: +30 1 347 22
59, fax: +30 1 601 87
60, e-mail: panayot- at greekhelsinki.gr,
offic- at greekhelsinki.gr, Internet:
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr

The information contained in this report/action alert
is the sole
responsibility of GHM. In citing this material for
broadcast or publication,
please credit GHM.
_________________________________________________________________
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