“I’m scared, I don’t know where it can go,” says female victim of domestic violence – What coroners and lawyers say about the incidents

“Every time he is under the influence of substances, he becomes a wreck. I told him to stop, let’s go to a special center in case he gets untangled, but he disagrees. I don’t know what he is capable of doing, where he can go. It scares me… These scenes take place in front of the children.” THE woman -appears to be around 35- who is standing before the judges of the Autoforou Three-member Misdemeanor Court of Thessaloniki, made the decision to appeal to the authorities, reporting her husband after repeated incidents of domestic violence. “There are so many that we would fill pages,” she says characteristically, wanting to cry of anguish that comes out of her mouth to be heard as loud as possible.

The glass seems to have overflowed last month, when the woman, who was said to be pregnant, received verbal and physical violence after a quarrel over a trivial matter… “He cursed me, he came towards me”, she says and leads her hands to the right towards the hip and a little above, showing the judges where he was hit. “I miscarried, but with my own decision,” she answers a question about the fate of the fetus.

The above case was tried at noon last Wednesday. It was not the only case domestic violence which was to be entered for trial on that day in the same Court. Every day, similar cases arrive at the hearings one after the other – all it takes is a complaint to the Immediate Action or a police station. The criminal prosecution, in these cases, is carried out ex officio and the accused person is arrested and referred immediately with the automatic procedure.

A characteristic of the sharp increase in complaints or mutual complaints by spouses and partners over the last two years is that “often, domestic violence cases make up the majority of cases tried in Autofora”, as sources from the Thessaloniki First Instance Prosecutor’s Office tell APE-MPE.

“The reported incidents of violence or threats or insults between couples have no age discrimination or social-professional stratification”, the same sources point out and mention two cases that have recently reached the Courts of Thessaloniki: on the one hand an androgyny of overage and on the other priest with his elder.

In the wake of the three recent murders with female victims, the Minister of Citizen Protection Takis Theodorikakos announced in a televised interview a few days ago that 5,140 incidents of domestic violence have been reported since the beginning of 2022. It is considered certain that this year’s number of complaints will exceed those of the previous two years. According to the statistics of EL.AS., 6,834 cases were filed in 2021 and 4,619 in 2020, with women making up the majority of the victims (5,705 last year and 3,626 the year before).

“Every day we forensically examine one or two incidents of domestic violence”

“There is a widespread impression that incidents of domestic violence are increasing”, notes the Head of the Forensic Service of Thessaloniki, Eleni Zagelidou, adding: “Where we used to examine 3-4 incidents per week, now we have 1 to 2 per day”. Victims of abusive behavior are addressed to the Forensic Service, often at the behest of the pre-investigative authorities, in order to examine and document their complaints, with the findings then presented to the Courts during the adjudication of the cases, constituting an additional “weapon” in the direction of punishment of the perpetrators. “Most of the victims are women, followed in order by the elderly, children and then men,” points out Ms. Zagelidou, referring to the “anthropo-geography” of the victims.

As for the forensic findings, these concern “from minor physical injuries, simple beatings to violent repulsions with falls, fractures and craniocerebral injuries”, as noted by the experienced medical examiner, speaking to APE-MPE. She estimates that the period of the pandemic clearly had a “substantial impact” on the phenomenon, stressing that a similar explosion of cases of domestic violence was observed in the previous decade, with the beginning of the economic crisis in the country. “Economic and social parameters are preeminent factors of increased risk and trigger criminal behavior between relatives”, says Ms. Zagelidou.

As he observes, the manifestations of abusive behavior are escalating and start with verbal attacks and threats, then moving on to physical harm. For this reason, it becomes necessary to make the complaints in time, he urges the victims.

“Are you coming home?”

Back in the hall of the Three-member Criminal Court of Thessaloniki, the trial of the young mother is heading towards completion. The defendant’s dock is empty, as it appears that the perpetrator had been released with restrictive measures, after the initial adjournment of the case. He is finally sentenced in absentia, since not even a lawyer appears to represent him.

“A total of 28 months imprisonment” is the final verdict, pronounced by the President of the Court, for domestic violence against a pregnant woman (continuing), threatening and insulting. With special reasoning and “to prevent the commission of new criminal acts”, it is decided to serve part of the sentence, specifically for the first three months, while the rest is suspended for 3 years. However, as these are misdemeanors, the appeal has a statutory suspensory effect, so the specific sentence is not carried out until the Court of Appeal. It looks like a second chance for the accused.

The Court, however, appears to be concerned about what happens next when the woman leaves the courtroom. “I live in a house with my in-laws. We live upstairs, downstairs, my father’s house is in a neighboring county,” she says, answering a question about whether she will return to the residence with her husband. In this case, no restrictive measures were decided to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Restraint measures

There are of course many cases in which some restrictive measures are imposed in cases of convictions, as lawyer Andreas Tagarakis points out to APE-MPE. “In addition to the penalties, there are other restrictive measures, provided for in article 18 of Law 3500/2006 (“On dealing with Domestic Violence”) and may be imposed by the Court, the Judicial Council or the Prosecutor by order, if this deemed necessary to protect the physical and mental health of the victim”, he states and adds that such is – for example – the removal of the perpetrator from the family residence, his relocation, the prohibition to approach his residence or work premises victim, residences of his close relatives, children’s schools and hospitality hostels.

Noticing a recent increase in domestic violence cases reaching his office, he attributes this to the “quarantine” period. “It is an unforgivable reality that the pandemic has intensified the phenomenon, as confinement for months in the same house on the one hand created fertile ground and on the other – due to the existing restrictions – it was not easy for the victims to ask for help”, he states, estimating that the disagreements and differences that came to the surface between couples or androgynes rather intensify – “a product of the general social difficulties and economic difficulties”, as he characteristically says – rather than heal.

As the debate on the adequacy of the legal arsenal regarding domestic violence and the views expressed on the tightening of penalties is not absent from the public debate, Mr. Tagarakis expresses the opinion that the existing legal framework is very sufficient, stressing that the framework of penalties it is particularly strict. It typically mentions that depending on the case and the more specific circumstances of the domestic violence incident being tried, “the Courts can impose sentences of up to five years, which means that if the sentence in the Court of Appeal exceeds three years, it must be served, since it is no longer suspended nor does it change.”

They retreat, perpetuating the vicious cycle

Another side of the same coin is the withdrawal in some cases of the victims – usually women. While they initially denounce the abusers and send them to the Courts, they then back off, “either because of fear, or because of financial or other dependence, or – more often – because of the usual pressure they are under from their immediate or wider family environment”, as Mr. Tagarakis observes.

It seems, however, that this attitude produces exactly the opposite results, as the perpetrators, remaining unpunished, are more likely to repeat their actions. In these conditions, the “vicious cycle” of violence continues, according to Ms. Zengelidou, who observes that some victims are met at other times at the Forensic Service…

RES-EMP

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