{"id":223234,"date":"2025-01-24T17:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T17:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/greece-tightens-laws-on-domestic-violence-but-not-enough-critics-say\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T17:20:14","slug":"greece-tightens-laws-on-domestic-violence-but-not-enough-critics-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/greece-tightens-laws-on-domestic-violence-but-not-enough-critics-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece Tightens Laws on Domestic Violence (but Not Enough, Critics Say)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/24\/multimedia\/24greece-violence01-bvzt\/24greece-violence01-bvzt-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Greece Tightens Laws on Domestic Violence (but Not Enough, Critics Say)\" title=\"Greece Tightens Laws on Domestic Violence (but Not Enough, Critics Say)\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Greece on Friday toughened penalties for domestic violence in an effort to address <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/23\/world\/greece-domestic-violence-abuse.html\" title=\"\">a surge in reported cases<\/a>, though critics said the new legislation did not go far enough and left out crucial measures aimed at prevention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During fiery debates in Parliament, opposition legislators said that the conservative government, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, had concentrated too much on punishment. The new law extends pretrial detention and allows sentences to be suspended only in exceptional cases, while victims will no longer be obligated to appear in court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bill also seeks to align Greek law with a European Union directive from 2024 aimed at reducing domestic violence. But lawyers, judges and women\u2019s groups have argued that the new legislation is only a fragmentary application of that framework and leaves out preventative measures such as awareness campaigns and better access to legal support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Before the vote, Ioannis Bougas, the deputy justice minister, rejected that view, saying the bill \u201cdeepens the framework of protection for victims of domestic violence.\u201d The legislation eventually passed on Friday with 157 votes in the 300-seat Greek Parliament, largely reflecting the government\u2019s majority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Anna Vouyioukas, an advocacy officer at the Diotima Center, an Athens-based nonprofit that offers support to victims of domestic violence, said the bill was a \u201cmissed opportunity.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt leaves out, without any justification, provisions aimed at improving protection for vulnerable groups including lesbians, older people, migrants and the poor,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Official figures have shown a significant rise in reports of domestic violence in Greece recently. Last year, there were 22,080 cases \u2014 almost double the number from a year earlier, according to the police. Arrests also roughly doubled over the same period, reaching 13,503.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Whether those increases are due to a worsening underlying problem or a greater willingness to report remains unclear. The police did not keep specific statistics on domestic violence until 2020 \u2014 signaling how attitudes have only recently changed and making long-term comparisons difficult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a complex phenomenon, it will take years of research to isolate the causes,\u201d Ms. Vouyioukas of the Diotima Center said, citing the lack of data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A landmark moment came in 2021 when Mr. Mitsotakis and the country\u2019s president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, expressed their support for Sofia Bekatorou, an Olympic sailing champion who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/23\/world\/europe\/greece-metoo-sofia-bekatorou-cyprus.html\" title=\"\">accused a top sporting official of sexual abuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Greek union of judges and prosecutors called the new law \u201cdangerous\u201d and said that it would \u201cbecome a pretext for a new narrowing of individual rights.\u201d In a statement on Monday, the union took issue with a range of provisions, including the fact that defendants could be convicted without being able to question plaintiffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lawyers have also objected to the bill and staged a walkout on Thursday and Friday because they say parts of the legislation \u2014 such as extending pretrial detention \u2014 violate constitutional protections including the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Clio Papapadoleon, a lawyer who has represented victims of domestic violence, said the emphasis on incarceration was shortsighted and could have \u201cdisastrous\u201d consequences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe automatic detention of defendants will make it harder for victims to come forward,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to think of the psychology of these people: If someone has three kids with her partner she\u2019ll think twice about reporting him if she knows he\u2019s going to go prison immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Michalis Chrysochoidis, the public order minister, said last month that tackling domestic violence was a national priority. Last year, after a 28-year-old woman was fatally stabbed outside an Athens police station by her former boyfriend, his ministry started an initiative to open dozens of state shelters for victims of such attacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Although change is going in the right direction, most government action has been a response to individual tragedies, Ms. Papapadoleon said, adding that the new law should have taken a more holistic approach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf it\u2019s after the murder, or it\u2019s after the rape, it\u2019s too late,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/24\/world\/europe\/greece-domestic-violence-law.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greece on Friday toughened penalties for domestic violence in an effort to address a surge in reported cases, though critics said the new legislation did not go far enough and left out crucial measures aimed at prevention. During fiery debates in Parliament, opposition legislators said that the conservative government, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/24\/multimedia\/24greece-violence01-bvzt\/24greece-violence01-bvzt-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3609,6435,19361,175514,137130,5771,129168,137131,42034,201],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223236,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223234\/revisions\/223236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}