Greece / Supreme Court (Civil Section - A1), Decision No. 1/2024 (Αρειος Πάγος, Α1-Πολιτικό Τμήμα, Απόφαση 1/2024)

Country

Greece

Title

Greece / Supreme Court (Civil Section - A1), Decision No. 1/2024 (Αρειος Πάγος, Α1-Πολιτικό Τμήμα, Απόφαση 1/2024)

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Year

2024

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Incident(s) concerned/related

Violence

Related Bias motivation

Migrant status

Groups affected

Migrants/Non-EU citizens

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Supreme Court

Key facts of the case

This ruling does not refer to a case concerning a specific individual victim, but the Supreme Court's decision on the political parties that would be participating in the 9/06/2024 European Elections. The Supreme Court declared that the party "Spartiates" does not fulfil the criteria for participating with a ballot at the European Parliament Elections due to its ties with the Golden Dawn members that had been convicted as a criminal organisation for various crimes including racist violence, attacks against migrants, anti-migrant speech, etc.

Main reasoning/argumentation

The Supreme Court decided that the party "Spartiates" did not fulfil the criteria of the law, given that one of its members was a founding member the criminal organisation Golden Dawn and had been convicted for various crimes including racist violence, anti-migrant speech, xenophobia, online hate speech, incitement to violence, etc. It therefore, could not participate in the 2024 EU elections.

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 Supreme Court recalled its previous decision (95/2023) for the 2023 national elections, where the same founding Golden Dawn Member attempted to run as an MP candidate with the party "ELLINES". The Court noted that a party that is aligned with the Golden Dawn ideology does not respect democracy, wishes to abolish its institutions and the rule of law with the use of force, by promoting intolerance and xenophobia and condoning human atrocities.

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

The party was barred from participating in the 2024 EU Elections.

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

"Στην προκειμένη περίπτωση προκύπτει ότι το κόμμα «ΣΠΑΡΤΙΑΤΕΣ», του οποίου πραγματικός ηγέτης είναι [...], καταδικασμένος [...] για το κακούργημα της ένταξης και της διεύθυνσης της εγκληματικής οργάνωσης «ΛΑΙΚΟΣ ΣΥΝΔΕΣΜΟΣ – ΧΡΥΣΗ ΑΥΓΗ» [...] προωθεί μια πολιτική που δεν σέβεται τη δημοκρατία και στοχεύει στην αποδυνάμωση και κατάλυση του δημοκρατικού πολιτεύματος και των θεσμών του κράτους δικαίου, ιδίως με τη χρήση βίας ή την προτροπή άσκησης βίας, καθώς και τη δικαιολόγηση αυτής, την προώθηση ολοκληρωτικών ιδεολογιών, τη διάδοση ρατσιστικών και μισαλλόδοξων ιδεών και ξενοφοβίας, την επιδοκιμασία εγκλημάτων κατά της ανθρωπότητας, το μίσος κατά προσώπων και ομάδων, ενέργειες και διακηρύξεις που απειλούν την ειρηνική συμβίωση των κοινωνικών ομάδων στη χώρα." "In the present case, it appears that the Spartiates party, whose real leader is [...], convicted [...] for the offence of belonging to and directing the criminal organisation "Golden DawnI" [... ] promotes a policy that does not respect democracy and aims to weaken and dismantle the democratic constitution and the institutions of the rule of law, in particular by using violence or inciting violence and justifying it, promoting totalitarian ideologies, disseminating racist and intolerant ideas and xenophobia, condoning crimes against humanity, hatred against individuals and groups, actions and declarations that threaten the peaceful coexistence of social groups in the country. "

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