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CASE GRE 081216
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Police harassment / Intimidation

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Greece.
Description of the situation:
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing judicial and police harassment against the human right lawyer Ms. Electra Koutra, President of the Hellenic Action for Human Rights “Pleiades”[1].
According to the information received, on September 6, 2016 Ms. Koutra was informed that on August 11, 2016, a police officer, member of the Thessaloniki Police, filed a complaint for “insult to his personality” requesting the award of 80,000 euros in civil damages against Ms. Koutra. This action for damages was filed in response to a complaint filed by Ms. Koutra on June 5, 2013, after she accused the same police officer of locking her up in a cell and denying the right to see her client (see background information). Ms. Koutra has time until December 9 to present her arguments in writing to the judge in charge of the case, who, by December 24, will issue a date for a court hearing.
Moreover, on October 4, 2016, Ms. Koutra has also been summonsed as a suspect, and then as a witness in relation to a criminal a case in which she represents five Syrian refugee children aged between 12 and 16 allegedly arrested and ill-treated on September 27, 2016, for carrying plastic toy guns in a bag in the street in Athens[2]. This summons contravenes the legal principle that lawyers should not be called to testify in cases tin which they act as lawyers[3].
The International Secretariat of OMCT expresses its concerns about the ongoing police harassment against Ms. Koutra, which appears to aim at sanctioning and putting an end to her legitimate human rights activities, especially considering the disproportionate amount asked for compensation by the police officer.
Finally, the International Secretariat of OMCT calls upon the authorities to drop the action for damages against her and put an immediate end to her intimidation and harassment, including at judicial level.
Background information[4]:
In the night of June 4 to June 5, 2013, Ms. Electra Koutra was arbitrarily detained during 20 minutes in a cell at the Democratias Square police station in Thessaloniki, where she had gone in her capacity of lawyer for the Greek Transgender Support Association (GTSA) to meet a client, a transgender person who complained of police abuse, in the context of an extensive police operation leading to the arbitrary arrest of many transgender persons on the eve of the Thessaloniki LGBT Pride, on June 14 and 15, 2013.
After she had been prevented from seeing her client, at 00:25 am, Ms. Electra
Koutra called the police emergency number to protest. Subsequently, she was
authorised to enter the station. The police officer on duty immediately threw
her into a police’s station cell together with a number of other detainees
without providing any further reason for her detention. Despite Ms. Electra
Koutra's protests, about ten other police officers voiced their support with
the police officer and taunted her, saying that she “asked to be locked in”.
When Ms. Electra Koutra was eventually let out of the cell some 20 minutes later, the officer on duty refused to register a complaint and asked her to leave the police station, shortly after 1 am. A few hours later, Ms. Koutra went to Lefkos Pyrgos police station to file a complaint for “torture and other forms of offense to human dignity” (a felony), “abuse of authority”, “unlawful detention”, “use of violence”, “abduction”, “threats”, and “unprovoked insult with actions”. The Public Prosecutor, urgently informed of the incident, refused to arrest the police officers under the pretext that they were acting while on duty.
Respectively on December 30, 2014, and June 30, 2015, prosecutors of the Thessaloniki First Instance and Appeals Court dismissed Ms. Koutra’s 2013 criminal complaint as groundless. According to the information received, the proceedings were marred by witness intimidation. In particular, one of the incriminating witnesses would have been coerced by police officers into withdrawing her testimony, previously made in an officially notarized statement on June 19, as well as in a complaint filed against police officers on July 11, 2013.
In December 2015, Ms. Electra Koutra decided to file a complaint before the European Court of Human Rights. The case is currently under examination.
Actions required:
Please write to the Greek authorities urging them to:
i. Immediately and
unconditionally stop the judicial harassment against Ms. Electra Koutra;
ii. Ensure in all circumstances that human rights defenders are able to carry
out their legitimate human rights activities without any hindrance;
iii. Conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,
adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly, especially
article 1 and 12.2;
iv. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and
international instruments ratified by Greece.
Addresses:
· Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Alexis Tsipras, Email: mail@primeminister.gr
· Alternate Minister of Immigration Policy of Greece, Mr. Giannis Mouzalas, Fax: +30 213 136 4418, Email: gram.anaplypourgou@ypes.gr
· Alternate Minister for Citizens Protection of Greece, Mr. Nikolaos Toskas, Fax: +30 210 692 9764, Email: minister@mopocp.gov.gr
· Deputy Permanent Representative of Greece, Mr. Ioannis Tsaousis, First Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 732 21 50; Email: grdel.gva@mfa.gr
· Secretary General for Transparency and Human Rights at the Ministry of Justice, Ms. Maria Yannakaki, email: ggdad@justice.gov.gr Fax: 2107767406
· Ambassador of Greece, H.E. Eleftheria Galathianaki, Embassy of Greece in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: (+32) 2 545 5585, Email: gremb.bru@mfa.gr
· Permanent Representative of Greece, H.E. Papastavrou Andreas, Permanent Representation to the European Union (EU), Fax: +32 2 5515651, 5127912. Email: mea.bruxelles@rp-greece.be
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Greece in your respective country.
[1] The NGO Pleiades is an NGO registered in Greece since 2009 operating in the field of human rights and carrying out awareness-raising campaigns, strategic litigation and offering pro bono legal, medical, social and psychological support as well as educational and cultural services to vulnerable social groups whose rights are being threatened or violated. It cooperates at regional and international level with inter-governmental institutions such as the Council of Europe and several United Nations mechanisms and bodies.
[2] For more information see: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/09/greece-syrian-refugee-children-detained-for-carrying-toy-guns-allegedly-ill-treated-by-police/
[3] See Article 212(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and Article 39(5) of the Code of Lawyers.
[4] See the Observatory Urgent Appeal GRE 001 / 0613 / OBS 050 issued on June 13, 2013, available at: http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/greece/2013/06/d22270/
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