Greece has broken European consensus
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International
AI Index: EUR 25/009/2005 31 May 2005
Greece has broken European consensus
JOINT
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Amnesty International, European Bureau
for Conscientious Objectors and War Resisters'
International
"It is high time the Greek authorities
respect and comply with European and international standards
and recommendations and put an end to all prosecutions,
imprisonments and violations of the human rights of
conscientious objectors" the three international
organisations stated today, condemning in the strongest
terms the recent wave of sentences against conscientious
objectors in Greece. "The Greek government cannot turn a
blind eye to the problem any more," they stressed.
The right to refuse to perform military service is a legitimate exercise of the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, enshrined in international human rights treaties to which Greece is a State Party, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
"Greece cannot continue convicting people for exercising their human right to conscientious objection. We urge the Greek government to take action to stop immediately the prosecutions of all conscientious objectors, recover their civil and political rights and bring the provisions for conscientious objection in line with European and internationally recognized standards and recommendations (of the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) as well as in line with the recommendations of the Greek Ombudsman and the Greek National Commission for Human Rights," Amnesty International, European Bureau for Conscientious Objectors and War Resisters' International stated.
Just recently, in March 2005, the United Nations Human Rights Committee called on Greece to improve the situation of conscientious objectors noting that: "The Committee is concerned that the length of alternative service for conscientious objectors is much longer than military service, and that the assessment of applications for such service is solely under the control of the Ministry of Defence. The State party should ensure that the length of service alternative to military service does not have a punitive character, and should consider placing the assessment of applications for conscientious objector status under the control of civilian authorities."
However, as recently as May 2005, four more conscientious objectors were sentenced to suspended imprisonment of six to 24 months while one of them remained imprisoned for 11 days awaiting his trial. They have all appealed against their verdicts and are awaiting their appeal hearings.
* On 10 May conscientious objector
Makedonas Alexandridis was given a suspended sentence of six
months for disobedience by the Military Court of Ioannina.
Alexandridis had served his military service in the Russian
army. Later, he became a Jehovah's Witness, so when the
Greek army called him to report for military service he
asked to serve alternative civilian service instead.
However, the right to conscientious objection is not
recognised under Greek Law 2510/1997 for those who have
already served in armed forces.
* On 17 May
conscientious objector Andreas Anastasiou was given a
suspended sentence of six months for insubordination and
disobedience by the Military Court of Larissa. Anastasiou
had served his military service in the Greek army, but later
became a Jehovah's Witness, so when he was called up for
reservist military service he refused to report on religious
grounds.
* On 18 May conscientious objector Nikos
Baltoukas was sentenced to a suspended 15-month prison term
for insubordination by the Military Court of Xanthi.
Baltoukas had served his military service in the Greek army
but when he was called up for reservist military service he
refused to report on grounds of conscience.
* On 23
May conscientious objector Georgios Koutsomanolakis was
sentenced to a suspended 24-month prison term for
insubordination by the Military Court of Athens.
Koutsomanolakis was charged with insubordination in 1979, at
a time when there was no alternative civilian service in
Greece, because as a Jehovah's Witness he refused to serve
military service on religious grounds. He fled Greece and
was granted political asylum in Germany, where he has been
living since then. He was arrested and detained on 12 May
2005 on the Greek island of Rhodes during a visit to his
parents and on 16 May he was transferred to Korydallos
prison, Athens, where he remained imprisoned until his
trial.
In addition, conscientious objectors Lazaros
Petromelidis and Giorgos Monastiriotis have both been
repeatedly sentenced by Military Courts to heavy prison
sentences for their conscientious objection.
* Lazaros
Petromelidis, President of the Association of Greek
Conscientious Objectors, objected to military service on
grounds of conscience in 1992 and has been repeatedly
prosecuted and convicted since then. He refused to do the
alternative service he was offered in 1998, as it was of an
extremely punitive duration -- in his case, seven and a half
times longer than the military service he would otherwise
have had to perform -- and he got his conscientious objector
status revoked. Since then, he has been regularly receiving
call-up papers to serve in the military and has been
repeatedly charged with insubordination because of his
refusal, as a conscientious objector, to do military
service. He was previously imprisoned in May 1998, April
1999 and September 2002. In June 2003 the Appeal Military
Court of Athens sentenced him to 20 months' imprisonment
suspended for three years for insubordination. With his most
recent sentence in absentia to 30 months' imprisonment for
insubordination in December 2004 by the Naval Court of
Piraeus, the previous suspension of the sentence was lifted,
meaning that he will have to serve a total prison sentence
of 50 months as soon as he is arrested. The repeated
prosecutions and convictions of Petromelidis contravene his
right to conscientious objection since the alternative
civilian service that he is called to perform should not be
discriminatory or punitive in nature and length.
*
Giorgos Monastiriotis, who had joined the Greek Navy on a
five-year contract, refused, citing conscientious reasons,
to follow his unit in May 2003 when the frigate "Navarino"
on which he was serving was sent to the Persian Gulf. He is
the first Greek professional soldier known to refuse to
participate in the recent war in Iraq on the basis of his
conscientious objection and to declare his resignation from
the Navy for this reason. In his public refusal in May 2003,
he stated that: "I refuse on grounds of conscience to
participate in or contribute by any means to the relentless
massacre of the Iraqi people... My refusal is also a minimal
act of solidarity with the Iraqi people as well as to the
peaceful sentiments of the Greek people." In September 2004
he was arrested and sentenced to 40 months' imprisonment for
desertion by the Naval Court of Piraeus. He was taken
immediately to prison in Corinth where he remained
imprisoned for 22 days until his temporary release pending
his appeal hearing. In January 2005 he was sentenced again
by the Naval Court of Piraeus to 5 months' imprisonment for
desertion which was suspended pending appeal. He appealed
and was released until his appeal trial. Monastiriotis'
convictions are in violation of his right to change his
beliefs and develop a conscientious objection after joining
the armed forces.
In addition, both Lazaros
Petromelidis and Giorgos Monastiriotis are regularly called
up to military service, and every time they refuse to serve
in the army a new prosecution is brought against them on
grounds of insubordination and desertion respectively. This
violates Article 14 paragraph 7 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that:
"No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an
offence for which he has been finally convicted or acquitted
in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each
country."
Greece in the Amnesty International Report
2005:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadzT3abhrAJbb0hPub/
ENDS