The transfer of Dimitris Koufontinas to Domokos prisons is being reviewed

In the Court of Execution of Sentences of the first instance court of Lamia, the case of the transfer of the member of 17N was referred by a decision of the Supreme Special Court (AED), Dimitris Koufodina, from the rural prisons where he was serving his sentence, to Domokos prisons, in order to be judged anew.

Specifically, according to the decision of the AED, the following will be re-judged:

a) the decision of gen. Secretary of Anti-Criminal Policy, by which the transfer of Dim. Kufontina to Domokos

b) the physical act of switching itself and

c) the rejection of the prisoner’s application for his transfer to Korydallos prisons.

In particular, Ioanna Kurtovik and Dimitris Sarafianos, advocates of the member of 17N, in their joint statement state the following:

“With the no. 4/2022 decision, the Supreme Special Court, consisting of the Presidents of the 3 highest courts (Supreme Court, Council of State and Audit Court), as well as members of these courts and professors of the country’s Law Schools, accepted the 19/7/2021 application of Dimitris Koufontinas, judging that the rejection of his appeal against his illegal transfer to Domoko, citing incompetence, was not lawful. And after that, he referred the case to the Court of Execution of Sentences of the Court of First Instance of Lamia, which is called again to investigate the legality of the actions of the General Secretary of Anti-Criminal Policy, as substantively competent, according to the decision of the AED.

In particular, this decision comes as a continuation of the case that occupied the public space and judicial records in early 2021, when Dimitris Koufontinas went on a long hunger strike, when he was transferred urgently from the rural prisons, where he had been serving his sentence since 2018 , in Domokos prisons, (high) security prisons, with overcrowding and living conditions punitively unfavorable for the prisoner, who completed 20 years of incarceration, without ever creating any problem that would justify his movement.

The transfer was made in continuation of photographic provisions of a law of the present government, by which the conditions of his stay in rural prisons became prohibitive, which law, according to general belief, was specifically aimed at this prisoner, hence the prisons were called “Koufontina law” . According to its provisions, inmates in rural prisons who did not meet the strict requirements of the new regulations were to be transferred back to the prisons from which they came.

In application of these provisions, Dimitris Koufontinas had to return to the underground wing of the Korydallos prison, where he had served his sentence from 2002 to 2018 (without ever creating any problem for fellow prisoners, employees or the management).

The prisoner, however, despite these provisions, was transferred to Domoko, by order of the gen. secretary of Anti-Criminal Policy, Sofias Nikolaou, who in fact, with her oral statements and with official documents, falsely claimed that the prisoner had previously joined Korydallos.

Following this, the Dem. Koufontinas went on a hunger strike, which lasted more than 60 days and crippled him, irreparably damaging his health, causing permanent damage and condemning him to muscle atrophy and motor incapacity.

Against this decision, his advocates appealed to the Court of Execution of Penalties, which was the Three-member District Court of Lamia, which refused to check the legality of the transfer, declaring itself incompetent.

The petition submitted by the lawyers to the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court for an appeal against the above decision was also rejected, with the same reasoning.

The advocates appealed, following the above, to the Council of State with a request to annul the illegal acts and decisions of the Secretary General, which was also rejected, as well as this Court deemed itself incompetent, considering that the case falls under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court of Execution of Sentences .

Following this, the case was brought before the Supreme Special Court with a request by the advocates for the removal of the fatal conflict of competences.

Already with its above decision, the AED accepted the application.

In particular, with this decision, it was decided on the legal issues that were raised, that a) the AED is competent to remove the fatal conflict of competences, in any case where a final judgment arises, regardless of whether this judgment comes from final court decisions or by councils, as a different interpretation would conflict with the right to judicial protection established by Articles 20 of the Constitution and 6 of the ECHR, and b) that decisions of executive bodies related to the execution of judicial decisions are reviewed by the courts of relevant jurisdiction, in this case by the criminal courts and in particular the Council of Misdemeanors as the Court of Execution of Sentences.

And with these judgments he referred the case to the Court of Execution of Penalties of Lamia, as the local authority for the prisons of Domokos, obliged to judge the legality of a) the decision of the General Secretary of Political Affairs which ordered the transfer of Dim. Koufontina in Domoko, b) the physical act of the transfer itself, c) the rejection of the prisoner’s request for his transfer to Korydallos prisons.

This decision is a vindication of Dimitris Koufontinas, but also of the long legal battle that was fought to defend the case, provoking unwarranted attacks, both from a section of the media and from the representatives of the executive power who were involved in the destruction of the Rule of Law, with only for the purpose of worsening the living conditions of the particular prisoner”.

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.