Greece: Thessalonika policing condemned
01 May 2003
A series of press releases issued by the Legal Team 2003, set up in occasion of the Thessaloniki European Council on 19 and 20 June 2003 has highlighted instances during and after the summit in which the Greek police are alleged to have acted illegally, disregarding the rights of demonstrators.
On 19 June, seven people were detained following identity checks, although five of them possessed documents and showed them to officers. They were handcuffed, and driven in a police van to Thessaloniki police station, where they were vidoed with a hand-held camera, their documents were photocopied, and four of them alleged being beaten, before they were released. The legal team statement stressed that the arrest in the absence of criminal acts and their treatment in custody were illegal, as was the failure to allow lawyers from the legal team access to the detainees, and the absence of official records of the detentions.
On 20 June, Greek special police force units (MAT) countering a protest on the Greek-Macedonian border at N. Marmaras in Chaldiki, were alleged to have indiscriminately used an “excessive” amount of teargas (resulting in burns and respiratory problems for demonstrators) as well as charging protestors to disperse a demonstration. The Legal Teams’s press statement stresses that the “demonstrators did not threaten public order by any means”.
At the “Niki” borderpoint, demonstrators were prevented from crossing the border to express solidarity to a group of Kosovo Roma refugees, in the form of food, medicines and support, although their travel documents were in order.
The legal team statement also questions the detention of eight people on 20 June, some of them for carrying “suspicious leaflets” that turned out to be Legal Team leaflets, and for carrying gas masks. An “unprovoked beating” inflicted on two civilians by a Greek police officer in the early hours of 21 June resulted in an indictment that was filed with help from the Legal Team. Later that day the streets of Thessaloniki were full of teargas as clashes developed and numerous arrests took place, with police officers reportedly acting in a particularly violent manner, and denying access to lawyers from the Legal Team in police stations where protestors were detained, as well as failing to provide them with necessary information.
On 22 June, communications between lawyers and detainees were not allowed for over six hours, and detainees were dispersed to police stations outside Thessaloniki. Over 100 people were reportedly brought to police stations in the period between 21 and 23 June, and the Legal Team statement claims that their “appearance” or presence in a particular part of town was a determining factor for arrests. An attack by police on demonstrators protesting outside a court, saw teargas fired and truncheons used on protestors.
Of the 29 people who were eventually charged, two minors were set free, 19 charged with misdemeanour were set free on 24 June by unanimous decision of the examining judge and prosecutor (although 12 of them remain under restrictive measures), and seven, who pleaded innocent, have been charged with felony and remain in custody.
The 7 people who are under investigation face possible jail terms of between 5 and 20 years in prison, with the charges including: possession, use and distribution of explosives; arson; participation in a demonstration that committed illegal acts; damages to property; disorderly behaviour; and possession and use of weapons.
Numerous allegations of beatings and ill-treatment surfaced following the arrests, and television footage indicated that the irregularities in police conduct included the fabrication of evidence. In the case of UK citizen Simon Chapman, one of the seven who remain under arrest, who is charged with possession of explosives (as molotov cocktails are considered), television footage shows his blue and purple rucksack being taken from him during his arre