At the same time, prison sentences are provided for offences such as sexual harassment in workplaces, “fishing” for minors on the Internet, revenge porn, and stalking, while victims will now have a say in the conditional release of perpetrators of violent offences. Also, even simple participation in fan-type incidents will be severely punished after the bill is passed – especially if there are injuries. At the same time, a cut in the salaries of judges who systematically delay the issuance of decisions is planned, while the rule on prohibiting judges from serving in their home towns (localization) is changed.
Domestic violence
The new provisions on domestic violence, according to the introduction, are intended to prevent offences of offences against sexual freedom and sexual dignity, to satisfy victims of women, children and vulnerable persons, and to satisfy victims of domestic violence.
The alleged perpetrator may be fitted with an electronic bracelet from the moment the incident of violence is reported or disclosed, as there is provision for the possibility of this being decided at the investigative stage along with other restrictions. As stated, restrictive conditions can be imposed by the court to which the person is referred for trial or by the investigating judge the judicial council, or the prosecutor in charge of the case.
Restrictive measures may consist of removing the offender from the family residence, relocating him/her, prohibiting him/her from approaching the victim’s home or work premises or the residences of close relatives, as well as children’s educational institutions and shelters if the victims have taken refuge there. The list of restrictive conditions also includes the prohibition of any kind of communication with the victim or victims, the surrender to the police authority of weapons legally possessed by the offender, electronic surveillance using location and movement tracking technology (electronic bracelet), the appearance at the police station, the provision of contact details available to the authorities at any time and participation in treatment or counseling programmes or rehabilitation programmes.
At the same time, imprisonment of up to 3 years is foreseen for anyone who “makes gestures of a sexual nature or makes proposals to commit sexual acts to a person who is dependent on him/her for employment or by taking advantage of the position of a person who has joined a job search process.”
As stipulated in the multi-bill, the penalty of imprisonment for up to 1 year or a fine is imposed on anyone who “by gestures of a sexual nature, by proposals concerning sexual acts, by sexual acts performed in front of another or by displaying his/her genitals, brutally insults the honour of another”. At the same time, a prison sentence of up to 2 years or a fine if the offender is under 12 years of age is provided for. However, in this case, a criminal prosecution requires a complaint, i.e. the filing of a complaint, unless the offender is a minor.
“Fishing” for minors
A special provision is included in the multi-bill to protect minors from electronic “fishing”. In particular, it is provided that “an adult who, through the Internet or other means or information technologies, acquires contact with a person who has not reached the age of 15 and who, by gestures or suggestions, insults the minor’s honour in the field of his or her sexuality shall be punished with imprisonment of at least 2 years”. If an encounter with the minor follows, the adult offender is punishable by at least 3 years’ imprisonment.
Anyone who “communicates or sends to another, without his/her consent, in any way or by using information and communication technology, an actual or drawn image or visual or audiovisual material imprinted on an electronic or other carrier material depicting genitalia (dick pic) in a way that may cause fear, anxiety or psychological harm to the person receiving this material” will face up to 2 years imprisonment. These penalties are increased (a special aggravating circumstance) at the discretion of the court if these offences are committed against a person “who is a public representative, journalist or human rights defender or who has a hierarchical or dependent relationship with the victim”. At the same time, “anyone who causes terror or alarm to another person by threatening him or her with violence or other illegal act or omission shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 1 year or a fine.”
Furthermore, causing “terror or alarm to another person by persistently pursuing or monitoring his/her movements and activities, in particular by seeking continuous contact through the use of telecommunication or electronic means or by repeated visits to his/her family, social or work environment, despite his/her expressed contrary will (stalking), shall be punishable by imprisonment of up to 2 years”. By extension, if all this is committed against a minor or a person who cannot defend himself or herself, a prison sentence of up to 3 years is imposed.
The victim will be held accountable
Victims or their relatives will now have a reason for the conditional release of perpetrators of serious crimes. The multi-bill provides for “the participation (ed.: by filing a written plea) of the person who had declared support for the charge in the proceedings before the judicial board for consideration of the request for grant” for felony crimes against: 1) life, 2) violation of the fetus, 3) bodily integrity, 4) personal freedom, 5) sexual freedom, 6) economic exploitation and 7) sexual life.
Violence in stadiums – schools
Following the spate of incidents by hooligans and fans of teams in and outside stadiums and stabbing incidents in schools and cafes, the legal framework is being tightened. Thus, “if due to a fight or assault by several people, physical injury to a person occurred, each of those who took part in the fight or assault shall be punished for his/her participation in it alone with imprisonment of up to 3 years, and if the victim is a minor or death or serious physical injury to a person occurred, with imprisonment of at least 1 year.” And if “persons were involved who were armed and death or grievous bodily harm to a human being occurred, imprisonment of up to 8 years is prescribed.”
Neglect of a minor
According to the 55-page multi-page bill, “whoever, while having a duty to supervise a minor, fails to prevent him or her from committing a criminal act shall be punished with imprisonment for up to 1 year”. If the perpetrator of the failure to supervise the custody of the minor is a parent, then a prison term of up to 3 years and a fine of up to 10,000 euros will be imposed.
The 5th article of the bill deals with genital mutilation and provides that “whoever, by using any form of force or threat of force or other coercive means or by imposing or abusing power or by obtaining consent by using deceptive means or by inducing consent, taking advantage of the vulnerable position in which he or she finds himself or herself, coerces or induces a woman to undergo excision or any other amputation of all or part of the labia majora, labia minora or clitoris, shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment of at least 2 years and a fine unless a more severe penalty is provided for in another provision.
Now, if these acts “were committed by a family member or a person who was in connivance with the victim or by two or more persons or by the use of a weapon or threat of use of a weapon or against a minor woman or for reasons of revenge, a special aggravating circumstance exists” and the penalty is increased at the discretion of the court. If the acts in question, which the victim was forced to perform, resulted in death or caused serious bodily harm, a sentence of imprisonment shall be imposed.
These protective provisions apply even “when the acts are committed abroad by a national, even if they are not punishable under the laws of the country where they were committed.”
Coercion into marriage
According to the bill, anyone who by physical force or threat of physical force or other unlawful act or omission coerces another person into an act or acquiescence for which the sufferer has no obligation is punishable by up to 2 years’ imprisonment or a fine.
Furthermore, whoever “by using any form of force or threat of force or other coercive means or by imposing or abusing power or obtaining consent by using deceptive means or by inducing, taking advantage of the vulnerable position in which he or she finds himself or herself, coerces, entices or induces another to enter into a marriage or cohabitation agreement, shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than 1 year and a fine”.
Wage cut
The bill amends the Code on the Organization of Courts and the Status of Judicial Officers in the chapter on the reduction of a judicial officer’s salary. Thus, now the salary of a judicial or prosecutorial officer “shall be reduced by an act of the President of the Supreme Court or the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court or the Commissioner General of the State of the Court of Audit, which shall be determined under the failure to provide service”.
The aggrieved judicial officer has the possibility within 10 days to appeal to the Supreme Judicial Council, which will rule irrevocably without the participation of the President of the Supreme Court or the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court who issued the act. If the judge’s appeal is upheld, the Supreme Judicial Council shall then annul the act of reduction and order the reimbursement of the salary cut. Another provision of the bill limits the cities that are exempted from the application of the localism disqualification for judicial officers.
The locality impediment no longer applies to cities: Patras, Larissa, Heraklion, Volos, Ioannina, Trikala, Chalkida, Serres, Alexandroupoli, Xanthi, Katerini, Kalamata, Kavala, Chania, Lamia, Agrinio, Komotini, Mytilene, Corfu, Rhodes and Kozani. Consequently, from now on, ‘it is not permitted for a judicial officer to serve in a court or public prosecutor’s office in the district where a spouse or a person with whom he or she has entered into a civil partnership or a relative up to the second degree by blood or marriage is appointed as a lawyer, for the duration of the marriage or civil partnership. This obstacle does not apply to the courts of the cities of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki”.
Counterfeiting of profession
There is a special provision in the multi-bill for the counteraction of the medical function and the profession of physiotherapists. Consequently, anyone using the title of doctor without holding a medical school degree will be imprisoned for 1 to 2 years and fined up to 10,000 euros, while anyone using the title of physiotherapist without holding a degree or a recognised qualification of the physiotherapist will be imprisoned for up to 3 years and fined up to 30,000 euros. Finally, several articles of the bill transfer cases (matter) from the Council of State to the Administrative Appeals and First Instance Courts.
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