Athens, October 20, 2020
PRESS RELEASE:
Subject: «Significant judicial conviction on a perpetrator of a crime with racist characteristics due to gender identity»
The Greek Transgender Support Association (GTSA), is a voluntary non-governmental organization that promotes the rights and freedoms of trans, gender-diverse and LGBTQI+ persons in general, as well as sex workers, with this press release, welcomes the decision of the Three-member Misdemeanor Court of Chalkida which imposed a sentence of sixteen (16) months of imprisonment at first instance on a perpetrator of a crime with racist characteristics based on the indictment regarding Article 82A of the new Penal Code, recognizing an aggravating circumstance because the victim was racially attacked due to her gender identity.
Specifically, in the early morning hours of 2.5.2015, a trans woman was with two of her friends in a night club in Psachna, Evia, when unprovoked and without any real reason, the waiter of the club told her and her company that they should leave the club because – as he mentioned – “the boss doesn’t like faggots and travesties in his shop”. Although the trans woman felt deeply offended and her personality shattered, she actually paid and told him that they would leave as soon as her friend came back from the toilet so they wouldn’t get lost. He immediately made a sign and the owner came along with five others. The three of them violently pushed her back and slapped her in the face, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the floor. Then, lying on the floor, they kicked her all over her body, even in the face, calling her a “travestie” and a “dirty faggot”, while when her boyfriend tried to stop him, they attacked him with punches and continuoushits, and one of them even from among the five he took out a knife and stabbed him in the hand with it.
The case was then made public and denounced in the public sphere by the Greek Transgender Support Association, with a detailed press release two days after the incident , on 4.5.2015, supplementing a related incident of police arbitrariness with a transphobic background that the victim received when she was taken to the local police station and there she was subjected to an unacceptable transphobic verbal attack by police officers, while the case was taken over by the Supreme Court lawyer and legal adviser of the GTSA, Vasilis Sotiropoulos.
It is worth mentioning that this important decision of the Three-member Misdemeanor Court of Chalkida came after eight (8) postponements and five and a half years since the criminal racist transphobic attack, which according to the indictment concerns Article 82 of the new Penal Code, recognizing the court as an aggravating circumstance because the victim was singled out because of her gender identity recording significant jurisprudence as it is the first time a court has applied 82A P.C. (crime with racial characteristics) on the basis of the victim’s gender identity.
The initial court sentence imposed is sixteen (16) months of suspended imprisonment, while the sentence is appealable. Warm congratulations are due to lawyer Vasilis Sotiropoulos who brought this particularly important decision to fruition.
The Greek Transgender Support Association welcomes this particularly important decision of the Three-member Misdemeanor Court of Chalkida and at the same time calls on the State to undertake all the necessary actions and policies to strengthen the fight against racism in all its forms, among them the restoration of the level of penalty in the case of a felony as well as the reinstatement of Article 361B of the Penal Code, but also in dealing with police arbitrariness, especially when it has a racist background.
THE BOARD OF MEMBERS
GREEK TRANSGENDER SUPPORT ASSOCIATION
15 ViktorosUgo, 10437, Athens
Trans Day Reception & Empowerment Center: Evangelistrias 6, Kallithea Athens, 17671
Tel. 210.9210 697 & 698 753 9741
Office hours for the public: Tuesday & Thursday – 12.00-20.00
http://tgender.gr – http://www.transgender-association.gr/
syd.secretary@gmail.com – transgender.support.association@gmail.com
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