The three-member magistrate’s court judged the editor of German magazine “Focus” innocent, relating to charges of offending a symbol of state, that concerned the known cover of the magazine in February 2010 with Aphrodite Milos in… an obscene gesture.
The court backed their ruling with the absence of evidence at the expense of the editor while the cloth which was wrapped around Aphrodite Milos, was not the Greek flag!
Earlier the court declared unacceptable the penal prosecution for the offense of slanderous libel that had been attributed to five journalists of the magazine, judging that the offense was not that serious while the controversial texts reported actions of Greeks and policies, and did not have the intention of offending the Greek population.
Also, the judges pronounced that they have eliminated punishments for the offense of vilification that also burdened the journalists, while with the new law the vilification became ‘fault’ and has lapsed.
With the beginning of this process, the court removed the prosecution (lawyers and citizens), judging that it does not suffer their direct legal interest and damage of plaintiffs.
From the plaintiffs, the lawyer Theodoros Fragkakis declared: “Afterwards, after two years of process, while the court had accepted all the statements of the prosecution, today, he has changed something, accepted the objections of Germans that slanderous liberl, vilification, and the offense of a national symbol do not exist, and acquitted them. We do not know what changed regarding justice with this decision, that the Greeks are portrayed as frauds, corrupted and do not pay taxes. This decision is reprehensible.”
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