Received at 14/02/2025
“We are not the shame of the country – part 7 – on the way to the Court of Appeal”
We are E.A., H.G., E.P., O.S. and on March 18, 2025 we are invited to appear at the Court of Appeal of Crete in Chania, where the case of the sexist and racist attack we suffered in the center of Rethymno in March 2020 by a group of far-right men will be reviewed – a case in which we were acquitted on January 12, 2024.
After four years of adjournments, financial and mental exhaustion, the result of the trial was the conviction of six of the seven defendants, who were found guilty and sentenced to eighteen months of suspended imprisonment for 3 years. The seventh defendant was sentenced to sixteen months, due to reasonable doubt regarding the first charge, by a majority decision of the bench. The charges against them are: disturbing the public peace, property damage by complicity and with racist characteristics, as well as serial insults committed in public with racist characteristics.
During the trial, we received comments that the charges “are ridiculous” and that “the case will be reviewed at the Court of Appeals.” Their surprise is understandable, since such cases rarely reach courtrooms due to discouragement, and even more rarely they lead to the conviction of “honorable, hardworking men” who “were just chatting on the street,” even if their faces were covered. While an attempt was made to reinforce the image of the defendants as “respectable citizens,” for us the result was the confirmation of a systemic habit: impunity.
We were shocked by the repeated assertion that the conviction was an exception to the rule. Even though our expectations of the trial were clear, this finding was very upsetting. Instead of justice being served, we observed a persistent reversal of the roles of perpetrator and victim: the right to freedom of expression is called “exaggeration”, while violence is simply described as “a bad moment”.
Facing a regime of oppression, repression and censorship, supporting the demand for justice is not a choice – it is a duty. Critical thinking and the demand for justice are not individual matters, but require collective resistance to constant intimidation.
Today, as the far-right is on a rapid rise and seeks to unleash obscurantism, our response is action. Racism and sexism reject knowledge and culture, promoting instead ignorance and violence.
This phenomenon has been observed repeatedly in our country, where citizens have their beliefs about justice shaken and their trust in the rule of law is questioned. The need for change and accountability is becoming increasingly urgent.
We do not stop.
No woman alone.
4 pairs of legs
Financial support of the court expenses: Court of Appeal financial support / 4 pairs of legs / Rethymno
