A prominent Athenian lawyer was arrested for domestic violence against his wife, according to the Ministry of Justice. The arrest was made possible due to a special provision implemented last February by Minister of Justice Giorgos Florides alongside amendments to the Criminal Code. This provision allows for the arrest of individuals suspected of domestic violence, even if the victim does not file a formal complaint. In this case, the lawyer’s wife reportedly sustained injuries during a “domestic accident” (a fall from a ladder), as per her statement. However, authorities deemed the circumstances suspicious and proceeded with the arrest. This incident highlights the importance of the new legislation in protecting victims of domestic violence and ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable, even when victims are hesitant to come forward.

The new legal framework, which replaced Article 23 of Law 3500/2006” on domestic violence”, obliges doctors to notify the authorities when during the examination they find findings that point to domestic violence regardless of what the victim declares.

Along with establishing a duty to report, the law shields physicians and other professionals (e.g. pediatricians, psychologists) who report incidents of domestic violence that come to their attention, with relative (unless it is proven that they acted fraudulently) immunity from retaliatory lawsuits against the perpetrators, and avoiding the inconvenience of having to testify as witnesses in the courtroom at the trial of the case. (unless the court deems it necessary for them to testify in physical presence and it is not sufficient to read their report).

More specifically, the new Article 23 of Law no. 3500/2006 as formulated by Law Florides (5090/2024) and its corresponding explanatory memorandum are as follows:

Article 130

Article 23
Obligations of professionals

1. A pedagogue, teacher, member of special educational staff or special auxiliary staff of primary or secondary education, social worker, psychologist, curator, coach, or doctor who provides services to a minor, who in the performance of his/her duties becomes aware or finds out in any way that a crime of domestic violence has been committed against a minor, is obliged to report it immediately to the competent law enforcement authorities. The same obligation applies to a physician who, based on serious objective findings of the medical examination, determines that a crime of domestic violence has been committed against an adult.

2. The persons in par. 1, who makes a report of a crime of domestic violence shall not be subject to impeachment, prosecution, disciplinary action, dismissal, or other sanctions or adverse treatment for the incident reported in the performance of their duties, unless they knowingly made an untrue report.

2. A. The persons referred to in para. 1 shall be called as witnesses at the hearing only if the crime of domestic violence is not proved by any other evidence.

3. The provisions of the present shall apply accordingly to the staff members and the Heads of the Educational and Counseling Centers (ECCs) referred to in Article 6 and para. 3 of Article 18 of Law No. 4547/2018 (A’ 102).”

The explanatory memorandum of the bill and subsequently Law 5090/2024, stated. 3500/2006 aims to broaden the categories of professionals who are obliged, when an incident of domestic violence against a minor comes to their attention in the course of their duties, to immediately inform the competent authorities. This specific obligation is also provided for in the provision for medical practitioners, where they have serious medical findings during a medical examination that suggest that the incident may have been caused by domestic violence. At the same time, through the establishment of a special uncontested case for the reported incident (with the exception of knowingly untrue reporting) and partial exemption from the obligation to appear at the hearing, the aim is to encourage the above professionals to report incidents and to bend any inhibition due to the weighing of the potential risk of their involvement in time-consuming, costly and psychologically damaging legal disputes.”.