- Ms X was allegedly attacked while on holiday in Greece, with her mother.
- The ECHR concluded that prosecutors did not analyze irrefutable evidence of the crime.
- She was forced to confront her alleged attacker twice, once while she was in the hospital.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favor of a British woman who took Greek police and prosecutors to court for failing to properly investigate her rape claims.
The victim, known only as Ms.
The woman, who was 18 at the time and from West Yorkshire, reported the attack to police but was not told anything about the investigation.
She saw her alleged attacker in hospital when she was examined by a doctor who examined her, took blood samples and noticed bruising on her legs, thighs and genitals.
The ECtHR, which ruled on the matter today, concluded that the police had made no effort to keep the accused away from her.
The victim, known only as Mrs X, was allegedly raped by a waiter while on holiday with her mother in the coastal town of Parga (FILE IMAGE)
The ECHR, which ruled on the matter today, concluded that the police had made no effort to keep the accused away from her (FILE IMAGE)
She also identified him in a lineup at a police station and was forced to sign documents in Greek despite not receiving an official translation.
The prosecutor found that Ms.
The waiter was later acquitted due to “insufficient evidence.”
The woman sent an email to the prosecutor’s office in January 2021, nine months before a Greek court ruled on the case, to request all police and hospital records.
But she was told that since she was “not a civil party in the case, as she had not stated that this was the case in her statement to the police and had not paid the relevant fees”, in her own rape case.
In addition, she was told that she had not appeared to testify before the investigating judge the day after the alleged assault and that she had not appointed a lawyer to represent her.
The ECtHR judges said: “Ms. X. did not receive any information at all times.”
The court highlighted several attempts, through official channels, including the British embassy in Athens, to obtain information from Greek authorities.
The court also said: “From the beginning, he had not been notified of his right to receive information about the development of the investigation and his role in it, and he had not been given information in a language he could understand about the procedure and legal measures”. at his disposal, even though, in his statement to the police, he had explicitly stated that he wanted the accused to be prosecuted and punished.’
It added that the investigating authorities had “not taken steps to prevent him from suffering further trauma and had not sufficiently taken into account his needs”.
‘She had not been informed of her rights as a victim, such as her right to legal aid, her right to receive information and to object to interpretation.
“Furthermore, they had not taken adequate steps to mitigate what was clearly a distressing experience for her, including her interactions with police, the medical examination, and her face-to-face encounter with the defendant at the hospital and during identification.” procedure.’
The court also highlighted a systemic problem in Greece related to low conviction rates, which it said “suggested that investigation procedures were ineffective or that an unreasonably high threshold required to achieve a conviction was applied.”
It also found that while Greek laws granted important rights to victims of “gender-based crimes,” “most provisions were not fully implemented in practice, and the experience of the criminal justice system remained very traumatic for many women and girls victims. .’