Greece / Piraeus five-member Court of Appeal / Decision no. / Walid Taleb case
Country
Greece
Year
Decision/ruling/judgment date
Incident(s) concerned/related
Related Bias motivation
Groups affected
Court/Body type
Court/Body
Key facts of the case
The Court of Appeal of Piraeus upheld the first-degree judgment convicting Walid Talib’s former boss, and two of his friends for his abduction, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, and robbery. Walid was an Egyptian national without legal documents who was attacked in November 2012 and subsequently, robbed, tortured and assaulted. The text of the Judgement has not been published, yet during the examination of the case, the prosecutor confirmed that the acts were carried out due to racist motives. The defendants were given sentences ranging between nine and 13 years in prison.
Main reasoning/argumentation
The Court endorsed in essence the penalties imposed by the Court of first instance and the accused expressed no repentance for their actions. The Prosecutor confirmed that the perpetrators had racist motives. She based her assessment on the facts of the case, namely the preparatory acts of the crimes and the particularly humiliating and degrading modus operandi. However, she argued that Article 81A of the Criminal Code, which provides for the crime with racist characteristics, is not applicable, as it was not in force at the critical time of the commission of the crimes.
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
The first-instance decision did not make any reference to racist bias. Given that the Appeal Judgement has not yet been published it is hard to tell whether the court took into consideration the racist character of the crimes. The Prosecutor confirmed that the perpetrators had racist motives, however, argued that Article 81A CC, which provides for the crime with racist characteristics, is not applicable, as it was not in force at the critical time of the commission of the crimes.
Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case
The group was sentenced to between nine and 13 years in prison. The son of Walid’s former boss, who was just 19 at the time of the attack, was given a five year suspended sentence after the court upheld the mitigating circumstance of his youth
Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details
N/A. The text of the judgement has not been published yet and therefore quotation cannot be provided.