A local court in Crete ruled unanimously in favor of the directors of two animal shelters in the Chania region, dropping all charges of profiteering in placing animals, mostly dogs, abroad.
The presidents of the two animal protection associations that maintained their shelters in Suda and Nerokuru, as well as all the deputy mayors of the Chania municipality responsible for working with homeless animals, were unanimously acquitted.
The lawsuit was filed by a local animal welfare society, which said the two shelters received money for the animals they adopted, traded them, and operated unlicensed kennels, a local newspaper reported. chaniotika nea.
“I was accused of selling dogs, profiteering on animals leaving for families abroad,” Iliakis said in an interview with the state news agency. amna. “They accused me of smuggling animals and running an illegal shelter,” said Greek-American Iliaki, who began running the Suda shelter as a volunteer in 2016. His lawyer, Maria Evangelou-Papadaki, submitted to the court all the accounting documents for the past year “to prove that all funds go into the bank account of the NGO and are accounted for in the same way as expenses.”
This case could set a precedent for many other animal societies that have been sued in the courts on the same issue. “This victory was a great relief, because we are not considered strange, but understood,” Iliakis emphasized. He noted that the decision is “good for the animals of Greece and is a groundbreaking decision that will definitely influence all other court cases following it.”
He explained that the problem begins with Greece’s inadequate implementation of the European animal tracing law adopted abroad. The Greek authorities abruptly stopped issuing the necessary certificates a few years ago, paving the way for unfounded lawsuits against animal lovers. He expressed the hope that, within the framework of the recently adopted law on the protection of animals, their issuance will be resumed.
*Reference: Adoption of pets is the process of taking responsibility for a pet that has been abandoned or given to a shelter or rescue organization by a previous owner. Some organizations grant ownership of a pet to adopters, while others use a guardianship model in which the organization retains some control over the animal’s future use or care. Wikipedia site:wiki5.ru
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