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On
the 26.9.2000 the ECHR published the following judgement:
"Biba
v. Greece (no. 33170/96)[fn] Violation Article 6 §§ 1 and 3(c)
Shpetim
Biba, an Albanian national convicted of murder and sentenced to life
imprisonment, complained that he was denied access to the Cassation
Court since no legal aid was available and he was unable to pay for
legal representation. The European Court of Human Rights held
unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and
3 (c) (right to legal assistance) of the Convention and awarded him
3,000,000 drachmas (GRD) for non-pecuniary damage and GRD 1,500,000
for costs and expenses. (Judgment in French available at:
http://www.dhcour.coe.fr/Hudoc1doc2/HFJUD/200009/biba%20-%2033170jv.chb3%2026092000f.doc) "
When
you read the judgement, you will discover that when Mr. Biba had a
court-appointment lawyer in a first instance court, he was summarily
convicted even though there was not enough evidence for guilt beyond
any reasonable doubt. When a Protestant social worker -who had met him
in prison- tried to help him with covering legal fees and providing
testimony in the appeals court, she found herself answering questions
about her faith. Mr. Biba, like so many -mostly Albanian– migrants,
had no real chance for a fair trial in a country where police and
court authorities are hard pressed to convict someone for unsolved
murder cases and Albanians and other foreigners are the prime
"usual suspects," especially when no one is caught in the
act.
Our
organizations have recently taken up the case of another Albanian,
Vata Safati. On 10 April 2000, he was sentenced to life for the murder
of an elderly person plus 20 years for robbery. The court discarded
sworn testimonies placing him in Albania at the time of the crime. Not
even one of the court witnesses recognized him during the trial, while
he pleaded innocent.
He
now has to wait in prison for two years before his appeal is heard.
Given that the court heard that the perpetrators of the crime were
drunk and that Vata Safeti has no prior convictions, the sentence was
exceptionally high, never handed down for a Greek citizen under
similar circumstances. Vatan Safeti has been treated that way simply
because he is Albanian.
Minority
Greek citizens can also not get adequate judicial review of their
cases. Besides two ECHR convictions under article 6§1 for length of
proceedings in cases involving Turkish minority members, appeals to
the Council of State against the appointment of muftis filed in 1990
and 1991 have yet to be reviewed by the Court ten years later.
The
Macedonian minority party Rainbow, in a case known to the OSCE fora,
had its headquarters sacked in 1995. Court councils, twice in the last
twelve months, quashed charges filed against alleged perpetrators or
instigators of that despicable act, and refused even to let the case
be heard in a public trial. According to the judges, bishops, priests,
mayors and others were justified to make inflammatory and defamatory
statements against Rainbow leaders, which led a mob to sack the party
offices, because the judges argued all of them rightly felt provoked
by a party sign in the Macedonian language.
Finally
cases of police torture or killing of Roma in 1996 and 1998 never led
to court hearings despite the existence of incriminating evidence,
including forensic report, and severe indictments by prosecutors for
torture and murder.
Since
multiple related appeals to the authorities made in Greece by NGOs or
by ECRI have been completely ignored we make an appeal here to the
OSCE and participating states to put pressure on Greece to respect
migrants’ and minorities’ right to a fair trial and to equal
treatment with ethnic Greeks.
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