Tweet
Bryan-College Station Eagle, Texas
Sept 3 2014
Greece to toughen penalties on hate speech
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Lawmakers in Greece on Tuesday began debating
draft legislation to outlaw Holocaust denial and expand prosecution
powers against the incitement of racial violence, following scores of
violent attacks against immigrants and a surge in popular support for
the extreme right Golden Dawn party.
The draft legislation to be voted on later this week would allow the
prosecution of racial abuse without requiring victims to take any
legal action, with convictions for incitement to violence carrying a
penalty of up to three years in prison.
"We have anti-racism laws already, but the reason they were not
applied was that immigrants, for example, were afraid to report the
crimes because they did not hold proper travel documents, lived here
illegally, and feared deportation," Justice Minister Haralambos
Athanasiou told parliament.
Greece's Ombudsman said it received complaints of 281 suspected racist
and homophobic attacks in the 16 months before May 2013, resulting in
four deaths and 135 injuries.
The bill is likely to pass after receiving backing from two left-wing
opposition parties, which successfully petitioned for the inclusion of
homophobic violence in the bill.
But the conservative-led government is facing dissent from some of its
legislators and opposition from prominent intellectuals over the
plans, which also include outlawing the denial of the mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the legislation but said it still fails to
encourage the reporting of crimes by immigrants living in the country
illegally, and risked "interference with freedom of expression and
association."
"No one should risk prosecution simply for membership in a legal
political party," the U.S.-based watchdog said, referring to Golden
Dawn, a far-right party of Neo-Nazi origin whose members have often
used racist rhetoric but deny frequent claims of involvement in street
attacks against immigrants.
Golden Dawn lawmaker Antonis Gregos described the bill as a "Satanic plot."
http://www.theeagle.com/news/world/greece-to-toughen-penalties-on-hate-speech/article_66c5f497-5ec6-5c67-a1e8-e4316554c495.html
Sept 3 2014
Greece to toughen penalties on hate speech
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Lawmakers in Greece on Tuesday began debating
draft legislation to outlaw Holocaust denial and expand prosecution
powers against the incitement of racial violence, following scores of
violent attacks against immigrants and a surge in popular support for
the extreme right Golden Dawn party.
The draft legislation to be voted on later this week would allow the
prosecution of racial abuse without requiring victims to take any
legal action, with convictions for incitement to violence carrying a
penalty of up to three years in prison.
"We have anti-racism laws already, but the reason they were not
applied was that immigrants, for example, were afraid to report the
crimes because they did not hold proper travel documents, lived here
illegally, and feared deportation," Justice Minister Haralambos
Athanasiou told parliament.
Greece's Ombudsman said it received complaints of 281 suspected racist
and homophobic attacks in the 16 months before May 2013, resulting in
four deaths and 135 injuries.
The bill is likely to pass after receiving backing from two left-wing
opposition parties, which successfully petitioned for the inclusion of
homophobic violence in the bill.
But the conservative-led government is facing dissent from some of its
legislators and opposition from prominent intellectuals over the
plans, which also include outlawing the denial of the mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the legislation but said it still fails to
encourage the reporting of crimes by immigrants living in the country
illegally, and risked "interference with freedom of expression and
association."
"No one should risk prosecution simply for membership in a legal
political party," the U.S.-based watchdog said, referring to Golden
Dawn, a far-right party of Neo-Nazi origin whose members have often
used racist rhetoric but deny frequent claims of involvement in street
attacks against immigrants.
Golden Dawn lawmaker Antonis Gregos described the bill as a "Satanic plot."
http://www.theeagle.com/news/world/greece-to-toughen-penalties-on-hate-speech/article_66c5f497-5ec6-5c67-a1e8-e4316554c495.html