Athens lawyers have filed a lawsuit alleging war crimes and genocide in Gaza involving Greece. The lawsuit was filed on Monday, May 20, 2024, with the Athens Prosecutor's Office by six current and former advisors to the Board of Directors of the Athens Bar Association with “Alternative intervention of Athenian lawyers.”
The lawsuit concerns the investigation into criminal responsibility for war crimes and acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip, committed by the Israeli army with the participation of soldier of Greek origin who serve in its ranks. The claim was also submitted to the prosecutor's office of the Supreme Court, and its filing was preceded by a hearing of the council members by the deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Mr. I. Provataris.
In their report, lawyers Giorgos Vlachos, Thanasis Kampagiannis, Eugenia Kouniakis, Dimitris Sarafianos, Angeliki Seraphim and Thodoris Simeonidis rely on publicly available video evidence of war crimes and crimes of genocide over which the Greek judicial system has criminal jurisdiction due to the participation Greek criminals.
This fact is also reflected in the public use of the Greek flag by military personnel participating in operations in Gaza. During these operations, as can be seen from videos, photographs, publications, testimonies, etc., the Israeli army subjects the civilian population (women, children, elderly people, disabled people, as well as arrested unarmed males) to inhuman and degrading treatment, torture and illegal violence, as well as wantonly plundering civilian infrastructure in the occupied territory.
These actions constitute a violation of the provisions of the Greek Penal Code, Law 3948/2011 (Government Gazette A 71, 5.4.2011), entitled “Adaptation of the provisions of domestic legislation to the provisions of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, ratified by Law 3003 / 2002 (A' 75)”as well as international conventions ratified by Greece (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Geneva Conventions concerning the Treatment of Prisoners of War, on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, etc.).
The report asks Greek prosecutorial and judicial authorities to conduct a full investigation into “the commission of possible criminal acts, in accordance with the provisions of Law 3948/2011, by Greek civilians who participated in the military operations of the Israeli armed forces in the Gaza Strip during the last six months.”
In the case of criminal prosecution, according to Greek law, crimes are decided by the Athens Court of Criminal Appeal, consisting of three members, and the penalty is a minimum of ten years' imprisonment.
Documents supporting the claim in Greek can be found at link.
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