Greece / First Instance Court of Thessaloniki

Country

Greece

Title

Greece / First Instance Court of Thessaloniki

View full Case

Year

2014

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Saturday, February 01, 2014

Incident(s) concerned/related

Discrimination

Related Bias motivation

Race/Ethnicity

Groups affected

Black people or of African origin
Migrants

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

First Instance Court of Thessaloniki

Key facts of the case

In April 2013, a public bus driver in Thessaloniki was accused of discrimination. He stopped the bus and ordered two African passengers to get off the bus, claiming that they were not holding valid tickets. According to witnesses the actual motive was related to the racial origin of the two passengers, since, after they got off, the driver screamed that he was "chrysafgitis", i.e. a fan of the Golden Dawn, and showed a medallion with the symbol of the “Golden Dawn” party in an effort to frighten other passengers who reacted to his behaviour.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The Court found the driver guilty of denial of access to services for racist motives, quoting Article 16 “Implementation of the principle of equal treatment regardless of ethnic or racial origin, religious or other belief, disability, age, sexual orientation”.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The driver was sentenced to ten months of imprisonment, suspended for three years, and given a fine of 1,000 euros.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

The decision is not available on line in competent Court web-site or in any other legal data base.

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