Greece: On the forthcoming Macedonian party trial
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Subject: Greece: On the forthcoming Macedonian party trial
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Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>
Greece: On the forthcoming Macedonian party trial
THE RAINBOW TRIAL ON 15 SEPTEMBER 1998
-------------------------------------------------
Greek Helsinki Monitor & Minority Rights Group-Greece
announce the publication of their book in English and Greek:
Greece against its Macedonian minority: The "Rainbow" trial (ETEPE,
Athens, 1998)
Copies available (at US$10 each) from:
Greek Helsinki Monitor
P.O.Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece
Tel: (+30-1) 620-01-20; Fax: (+30-1) 807-57-67
E-mail: [email protected]
-------------------------------------
CONTENTS
Preface
Reactions to the Prosecution by Greek and International
Non-Governmental Organizations
Reactions to the "Rainbow" Actions by Local Authorities and
Organizations
Articles in Greek National Media on "Rainbow"� Activity in September
1995
Excerpts from Sworn Statements of Witnesses for the Prosecution
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Preface
On 15 September 1998, Greece�s Macedonian minority party "Rainbow"
goes on trial for the "crime" of having hanged up on its office a sign
written in Greek and also in Macedonian, the mother tongue of its
members. According to the indictment, the use of that mother tongue
"caused and incited mutual hatred among the citizens, so that common
peace was disturbed on September 6, 1995."
The prosecution of four Rainbow leaders was made possible only because
almost all local authorities and organizations turned against them. At
the same time, the charges that party brought against those implicated
in the sacking of its office, on September 14, 1995, have yet to lead
to any action by the public prosecutor. The latter has repeatedly
stated that the case is still, three years later, at the stage of the
"preliminary investigation." However, the same office had no problem
carrying out in an expeditious way the investigation on the charges
against Rainbow. All sworn statements of the witnesses for the
prosecution were made within 15 days, in September 1995; the Rainbow
leaders� defense statements ("apologies") were made in October 1995;
and the defense witnesses� sworn statements, in Athens, were made in
February and March 1996. In fact, in the charges brought by Rainbow
against those responsible for the sacking of their offices, Rainbow�s
witnesses had also made their sworn statements in early 1996, while
all defendants live in Florina, and could have thus easily been
reached. Clearly, therefore, the prosecutor has deliberately chosen to
"freeze" the case of Rainbow against the local leadership, while it
swiftly prosecuted the case it made, on its own initiative, against
Rainbow. So much for fairness of the prosecuting authority in Florina.
We have gathered here a series of documents which will help illustrate
not only the case made against Rainbow, but also how difficult and
therefore risky it is to declare a Macedonian minority identity in
such an extremely hostile if not aggressive environment in Greece.
These documents clearly confirm that this is not a usual court case:
it is indeed a case of Greece (as a country) against its Macedonian
minority (as a whole).
We first present all statements published by our two cooperating
Non-Governmental Organizations, Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority
Rights Group - Greece, as well as the statements issued around the
time of the first court hearing (scheduled for 14 October 1997, which
ended up being postponed) in response to our international appeal for
condemnation of the trial.
Then, we present the statements issued by local organizations
condemning the hanging up of the sign, in 1995. In the case of the
PASOK local party organization, their reaction took the form of
charges pressed against Rainbow, signed by the Florina Prefect
himself, many commune presidents or mayors, and others most of whom
but not all belonging to PASOK; as there were claims of signatures
being forged, the charges were later withdrawn. In that section, the
reader will also find an excerpt from a police report which shows that
the violent events against the Rainbow offices happened while police
was standing by, watching, but not reacting to crimes in progress.
Finally, the reader will note in this section that even the Bar
Association of Florina adopted a strongly worded position against
Rainbow; no wonder then that, in this as in almost all other minority
trials, the defendants cannot find lawyers from their own region and
have to resort to lawyers from Athens or Salonica.
Follow the coverage by the national media of the 1995 events, an
inflammatory coverage that prepared the climate and contributed to the
assault against the Rainbow offices by "enraged citizens." Then are
presented excerpts from the sworn statements of the witnesses for the
prosecution, which include many prominent local personalities: one
should note there how many arguments are repeated almost word by word
in several statements, giving the impression that there was some
"instruction" given to these witnesses.
It need be mentioned here that, in 1995, one of the political parties
whose representative made a sworn statement against Rainbow was the
Coalition. To its credit, when, two years later, we sent our appeal to
all political party leaders in Athens, the Coalition was the only one
which issued a statement clearly condemning the trial and therefore
dissociating itself from the statement of its Florina local leader.
The gathering, translation, editing and presentation of that material
was the work of Panayote Dimitras, Nafsika Papanikolatos, Hebe Rocou,
and Christina Rougheri.
--------------------------------------------
News Service 178/98
AI INDEX: EUR 25/44/98
11 September 1998
http://www.amnesty.org/news/1998/42504498.htm
PUBLIC STATEMENT
GREECE
Charges against members of the "Rainbow" party should be dropped
Amnesty International is calling on the Greek authorities to drop the
charges against four members of the ethnic Macedonian minority party
"Rainbow" at their trial in Florina on 15 September 1998.
"Rainbow" members Vasilis Romas, Costas Tasopoulos, Petros Vasiliadis
and Pavlos Voskopoulos are charged with "causing and inciting mutual
hatred among the citizens" under Article 192 of the Greek Penal Code.
These charges were brought against them after they displayed a sign
bearing the words "Florina Committee" in both Greek and Macedonian
outside the Florina office of the Rainbow Party in September 1995.
There is nothing in the indictment which suggests that they advocated
violence or incited hatred.
Amnesty International believes that their prosecution is a violation
of Article 10 (1) of the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), which Greece has
ratified and is legally bound to observe.
Article 10 (1) states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of
expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to
receive and impart information and ideas without interference by
public authority and regardless of frontiers."
Should they be imprisoned after their trial, Amnesty International
will adopt them as prisoners of conscience and will call for their
immediate and unconditional release.
Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton
Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------
______________________________________
Greek Helsinki Monitor &
Minority Rights Group - Greece
P.O. Box 51393
GR-14510 Kifisia
Greece
Tel. +30-1-620.01.20
Fax +30-1-807.57.67
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr
______________________________________
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