GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR
(Greek National Committee of the International Helsinki Federation)

& MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP - GREECE
(Greek Affiliate of Minority Rights Group International)

P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece Tel. 30-1-620.01.20; Fax: 30-1-807.57.67; E-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr

PRESS RELEASE

IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
ACTION ALERT - GREECE

27 May 1998

Injunction banning sale of book; teacher charged with proselytism

SOURCE: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), Kifisia

(GHM/IFEX) - According to GHM, a report from the Reuters news agency has confirmed that a Greek court has slapped a temporary injunction on sales of a dictionary in the latest round of a dispute over an allegedly insulting definition contained in the book. On 26 May 1998, court officials in Thessaloniki (in northern Greece) confirmed the decision, made in response to complaints by a local conservative politician over one of the dictionary's definitions for "Bulgarians."'

The dictionary states that "Bulgarians'' is used in Greek slang as a pejorative term for supporters or players of sports teams in Thessaloniki, which is near the Bulgarian border.

Fans of soccer and basketball teams from Athens and the rest of the south often taunt northern fans and players, especially from the PAOK team, with the term.

The inclusion of the definition triggered outrage in northern Greece and public criticism from ministers who said it had been a mistake to put it in.

Dictionaries of modern Greek are rare, and the author, George Babiniotis, did not conceal his anger. "People in positions of responsibility should know better. Are we supposed to leave out all the words we do not like? This is a type of censorship which we have not seen for many years", he told Flash radio. Babiniotis said he had agreed that any new editions of the dictionary would list the definition in a special entry for sports slang.

A court hearing on the injunction is scheduled for 28 May 1998, but the temporary ban on sales is practically meaningless as the first print run has almost sold out already.

In a separate case, on 18 June 1998, Eva Androutsopoulos will go on trial in Komotini (in northeastern Greece) for the violation of article 4 of the (Metaxas regime’s) Obligatory Law 1363/1938. She is charged with proselytism, which allegedly occurred when she was teaching German in a private tutorial school. She is charged as follows: "in the month of May 1995 and on a date that was not ascertained, she proselytized by abusing of the inexperience of others (...) attempting in an indirect way, that is by making frequent references during class time to Buddhism and to religious beliefs of the Orient, to introduce pupils to the religious conscience of believers in different dogmas ("heterodox"), aiming at changing the content of their religious conscience." GHM notes that Androutsopoulos is not a Buddhist.

The prosecution was triggered by a report to the public prosecutor by the Bishop of Komotini. This is the first trial on proselytism in Greece after the country’s conviction by the European Court of Human Rights on the Kokkinakis affair in 1993, although a new conviction of Greece is expected in connection with an older proselytism case involving Greek Protestants.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to authorities:

-reminding them that Greece ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 of which guarantees the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds

APPEALS TO:

Mr. Costas Simitis
Prime Minister of Greece
Maximou Megaron
Athens

Fax: +30-1-6716183

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact Nafsika Papanikolatos & Panayote Elias Dimitras, Greek Helsinki Monitor & Minority Rights Group - Greece, P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece, tel: +30-1-620.01.20, fax: +30-1-807.57.67, e-mail: nafsika@greekhelsinki.gr, or panayote@greekhelsinki.gr, Internet: http://www.greekhelsinki.gr

The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of GHM. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit GHM.

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