Greece / Supreme Court (Crimimal Section E), Decision No. 804/2024 (Αρειος Πάγος (E' ΠΟΙΝΙΚΕΣ), Απόφαση 804/2024

Country

Greece

Title

Greece / Supreme Court (Crimimal Section E), Decision No. 804/2024 (Αρειος Πάγος (E' ΠΟΙΝΙΚΕΣ), Απόφαση 804/2024

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Year

2024

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Friday, April 19, 2024

Incident(s) concerned/related

Other forms of hate speech

Related Bias motivation

Racial or ethnic origin

Groups affected

Migrants/Non-EU citizens

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Supreme Court

Online/Offline

Offline

Key facts of the case

The case concerns the criminal offence of insult against an individual's honour with racist charachterisations about the victim's ethnic origin. The defendant verbally attacked the victim using degrading terms targeting her Albanian origin. The defendant was convicted for racially motivated verbal insult at both the first and appeal level and sought to overturn his conviction by filing a cassation against the appeals decision.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The defendant claimed violation of his defence rights demonstrated by lack of justified reasoning of the contested decision. The Supreme Court rejected the cassation claiming that the contested decision did not lack the necessary reasoning but mentioned: the exact phrases targeting the victim's Albanian origin, the defendant's intent to harm the victim's honour and the externalisation of his intent by choosing the specific insulting words.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

The decision sets a very important precedent of legal interpretation as the Supreme Court elaborated on the specific elements of the racist crime of insult that should be mentioned in a court decision's reasoning in order for it to contain justified reasoning.

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The Supreme Court found that there was no reason for cassation and the defendant's conviction was maintained. He was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment, with a three-year suspension.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

"Eιδικότερα, στην προσβαλλόμενη ... διαλαμβάνονται οι ακόλουθες κρίσιμες ουσιαστικές παραδοχές, ήτοι : η διατύπωση από τον κατηγορούμενο και ήδη αναιρεσείοντα προφορικά των λέξεων "ΚΩΛΟΑΛΒΑΝΕΖΑ, ΣΚΥΛΑ ΑΛΒΑΝΙΔΑ", σε βάρος ατόμου αλβανικής καταγωγής, η προσβολή της τιμής της εγκαλούσας (επ) H. (ον) A., η πρόθεση του κατηγορουμένου να προσβάλλει την τιμή της και η εξωτερίκευση της πρόθεσης αυτής με τις παραπάνω λέξεις. [...] Kατά την αναζήτηση της ουσιαστικής αλήθειας και τη θεμελίωση σ' αυτή της τελικής κρίσης του Δικαστηρίου της ουσίας ... κατέληξε όχι επειδή δεν αποδείχθηκαν οι αρνητικοί ισχυρισμοί του κατηγορουμένου, αλλά επειδή η ενοχή του αποδείχθηκε πλήρως." "In particular, the contested ... contains the following critical substantive assumptions, namely: the verbal utterance by the accused and already appellant of the words "KOLOALVANEZA, SKYLA ALBANIDA", against a person of Albanian origin, the insult to the honour of the victim ..., the defendant's intention to insult her honour and the embodiment of that intention in the above words. [...] In the search for the substantive truth and the basis of the final judgment of the Court on the merits ...[it reached this] conclusion not because the defendant's negative allegations were not proved, but because his guilt was fully established."

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