ATHENS (EJP)---The Greek Jewish community said Friday it was “shocked” after neo-Nazi militant Kostas Plevris, who wrote a book denying the Holocaust and containing offensive references to Jews, was acquitted by an Appeals court in Athens. Plevris was found not guilty of “incitement to racial hatred and violence against the Jews” by the 5-member
court.
In a reaction, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece
(KIS) expressed its “disappointment and amazement at the decision of the Athens
court.
"This
decision saddens and causes concern among citizens of a modern
democratic society as a self-confessed advocate of Nazism and racism
remains unpunished though he not only distorts proven historical
evidence, but even worse, uses his pen to incite hatred and provoke
discrimination and violence against citizens of Greece and
Europe," the Central Board said.
“The Greek Jewry believes that the fundamental constitutional right of
freedom of speech
has nothing to do with the direct threats, insults
and incitement to racial hatred and violence against the Jews that
Plevris includes in his book" titled “Jews-The whole truth” .
Plevris had been convicted in first instance in December 2007 and condemned to 14 months of
imprisonment
on probation for three years for “racial insult”, “incitement to hatred
and racial violence” on the basis of the 1979 anti-racist law.
At the time, the Jewish
community saw the trial as a key test of the Greek authorities’
determination to deal with anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in a country where anti-Semitic literature such as the infamous “Protocols of the elders of Zion” is on sale in
bookshops.
The charges against Plevris were also brought by the Helsinki Monitor and the “Anti-Nazi Initiative” organization, two human right Greek NGO’s. He immediately appealed the sentence.
According to Moses Constantinis, the Appeals court prosecutor
characterized
Plevris’s defamatory book – which denies the Holocaust, calls the
Jews “sub-human” and threatens them with the “re-opening of the
crematoria in Auschwitz- a “scientific work”.
To express the resentment of the
Greek Jews, the Jewish umbrella body has decided not to be represented
at the European symposium “Building together the Future of Europe”
which will be held next Monday in Brussels, “given that theoretical
analysis and statements made by Greek MEPs on the denunciation and
condemnation of anti-Semitism are meaningless”.
Around 6,000 Jews live in Greece.
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