Grèce: condamnation pour antisémitisme du magazine "Eleftheros Cosmos"

"Dieu merci, il ne reste même plus 1.500 juifs à Salonique..."

Communiqué de presse du Comité central des communautés juives de Grèce (Source: EJC )

"Following their conviction at first instance, the editor of the far-right Greek weekly "Eleftheros Cosmos" Dimitris Zafeiropoulos and journalist Theodoros Hatzigogos were tried on 18 September 2008 on appeal before a Three-Member Court of Appeals of Athens, and were unanimously sentenced to imprisonment for 5 months (with a three-year suspension) for anti-semitism (violation of Law 927/1979 against racism), for the article published in the newspaper’s 12 March 2006 issue, which stated : "Thank God, not even 1,500 Jews are left in Thessaloniki ...".

It is worth noting that the defense counsel was Kostas Plevris (!), the known anti-semite and Holocaust denier, who did not fail to plead in court with his familiar arguments against the Jews."

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Source: EJP (17.09.2007)

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""Elefteros Kosmos" (Free World) is a marginal extreme right wing weekly with no more than 800 copies in circulation. (...)
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A conviction based on the anti-discrimination law would constitute a legal precedent allowing for further prosecutions in the future against anti-Semitic literature in Greece.

Dozens of pro-Hitler magazines and books or specifically anti-Semitic - like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - are being sold in nearly every kiosk and in bookstores in the country.

However nothing is done to deal with this hatred and Nazi propaganda despite the existence of anti-discrimination law.

The reasoning of the courts is that prosecuting this type of literature constitutes a violation of free speech.

Anti-Semitism in Greece, although not violent and institutionalized, is not a marginal ideology of a minority but is embedded in the mainstream society and manifests itself in religious contexts, education, politics and the media.

Recent research showed that 24% of Greeks do not want to have a Jew as a neighbour. The Greek mainstream media is one of the most fiercely anti-Israeli in Europe.

Around 4,000 Jews live today in Greece."