The Supreme Court prosecutor, Georgia Adeilini, following yesterday’s statements by the mayor of Volos, Achilleas Beos, regarding the president of SYRIZA-PS, Stefanos Kasselakis, ordered the Volos District Court prosecutor to investigate whether Mr. Beos has violated Law 4285/2014 on racism, etc.
Specifically, Ms. Adeilini's order is as follows:
«The Prosecutor of the Supreme Court today sent the following order to the Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance in Volos:
Please, in light of the statement made by the Mayor of Volos, which took place yesterday during a live broadcast on most nationwide television channels, with the following content “So, Mr. Kaselakis, are we raising girls just to produce fags? Is this Greece? Is this his homeland? Leave me alone. Under no circumstances will you be a role model,» and to investigate whether the criminal offense described in Article 1, paragraph 1, of Law 4285/2014 was committed.
It should be noted, among other things, that the above statement by the mayor in question, when interpreted as a coherent whole in accordance with the case law of the ECHR, targets by identifying, in a completely distinct manner, individuals belonging to the homosexual community, and denies these individuals with that specific sexual orientation the right to exist in society, to participate, to act, and to express their views and aspirations in social life.
Consequently, his specific behavior may incite hatred against homosexuals, since the intensity of his remarks—especially when made publicly, and given his status as mayor— may be deemed likely to provoke in the average person intense feelings of aversion, disgust, schadenfreude, retaliation, and particular hostility toward the aforementioned group of individuals; and these feelings are objectively capable of posing a risk of acts of violence being committed against that specific group or its members, thereby disrupting peaceful and harmonious social coexistence and infringing upon their individual rights. In other words, it must be examined whether the Mayor’s statement in question was likely to incite discrimination, hatred, and violence against a group of persons identified on the basis of sexual orientation, specifically against homosexuals (see also Supreme Court Decision 858/2020).
In any case, an investigation should be conducted to determine whether the President of SYRIZA-PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE, wishes to file a complaint against the aforementioned mayor for racially charged insults, etc.».
P. Ts
