Humanists International ✒ is deeply concerned to learn that prominent human rights defenders and members of the Humanist Union of Greece were convicted of filing a “false complaint” and sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years.
Members of the Humanist Union of Greece, Panayote Dimitras and Andrea Gilbert were convicted of filing a “false complaint” (Article 229 of the Penal Code) against the Metropolitan Bishop of Piraeus Seraphim by the Three-Judge Misdemeanors Court of Athens on 15 February 2022. They were sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years. Dimitras and Gilbert have filed an appeal.

The case relates to a complaint filed in 2017 by the pair while acting on behalf of the Greek Helsinki Monitor, which alleged that a high-ranking Bishop had abused his ecclesiastical office and incited hatred in a statement deemed to be filled with anti-Semitic rhetoric published on the website of the Diocese of Piraeus.

Their complaint, filed before the Department for Combating Racist Violence (Attica Division), was eventually thrown out by the prosecutor two years later; the Bishop responded by filing a counter-complaint against Dimitras and Gilbert.

Continue reading @ Humanist International.



Greece ✑ Humanists Sentenced To One-Year Suspended Jail Term

Humanists International ✒ is deeply concerned to learn that prominent human rights defenders and members of the Humanist Union of Greece were convicted of filing a “false complaint” and sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years.
Members of the Humanist Union of Greece, Panayote Dimitras and Andrea Gilbert were convicted of filing a “false complaint” (Article 229 of the Penal Code) against the Metropolitan Bishop of Piraeus Seraphim by the Three-Judge Misdemeanors Court of Athens on 15 February 2022. They were sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years. Dimitras and Gilbert have filed an appeal.

The case relates to a complaint filed in 2017 by the pair while acting on behalf of the Greek Helsinki Monitor, which alleged that a high-ranking Bishop had abused his ecclesiastical office and incited hatred in a statement deemed to be filled with anti-Semitic rhetoric published on the website of the Diocese of Piraeus.

Their complaint, filed before the Department for Combating Racist Violence (Attica Division), was eventually thrown out by the prosecutor two years later; the Bishop responded by filing a counter-complaint against Dimitras and Gilbert.

Continue reading @ Humanist International.



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