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Themes: Freedom from torture and ill-treatment Greece

Sakir v. Greece  |2016

Hate crime laws strengthened after police failed to properly investigate a racist attack

...no statement was taken from [Rafi] himself about the circumstances of the attack or the identity of the perpetrators.

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, June 2016

Background 

In 2009, Rafi Sakir was viciously stabbed and beaten by an armed gang in a part of Athens which had become notorious for racist attacks.

When Rafi left hospital four days later, the police immediately detained him and ordered him to leave the country because he did not have residence papers.

Rafi had come to Greece fleeing political persecution in Afghanistan. He had tried to apply for asylum but said he could not access the relevant services.

Despite his poor state of health after the attack, Rafi did not receive any medical care whilst being held in a dirty, overcrowded police cell – even though his doctors had said he should come back to hospital for check-ups.

Rafi was only taken to hospital nine days into his detention, and he was then released from custody the next day.

The police did not ask Rafi to make a statement about what happened or to confirm the identity of two people witnesses accused of carrying out the attack.

In 2012, the police closed the investigation into the incident, having been unable to find the perpetrators. Nobody was ever convicted for the attack on Rafi.

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

The European court found that the Greek authorities did not properly investigate the attack on Rafi. This was in breach of his rights. 

International human rights groups gave evidence to the court demonstrating a rise in racist attacks in Athens, coinciding with the growth of far-right extremism in Greece since 2009. Their reports also pointed to serious failures by the police to properly investigate such crimes.

The Greek police had completely neglected to place Rafi’s attack in this general context and treated it as a one-off case, the European court concluded.

The court also found that Rafi was held in poor conditions in custody and the authorities did not properly safeguard his health and well-being.

Follow-up 

Following the European court’s judgment in Rafi’s case, Greece reopened the investigation into the attack. However, despite repeated searches being carried out, both Rafi and a key witness could not be found.

Since the attack on Rafi, Greece has taken various steps to tackle hate crimes against vulnerable groups of people:

  • Definitions of what counts as hate crime are now more precise, and offenders face tougher penalties.
  • Specialised police departments and prosecutors have been set up, tasked with investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.
  • Further training has been provided to judges and prosecutors on how to properly apply hate crime laws.
  • The National Council against Racism and Intolerance was created in 2015. The council is an advisory body which is tasked with developing policies against racism, coordinating actions between the relevant authorities and strengthening their cooperation with civil society.

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