Four monks of Mount Athoss, who abandon in different cells of the monastic State, submitted to the Council of State application for annulment of the decision by which a Police Directorate was established and already operates in the Athos peninsula.

They argue that the operation of the particular service which falls under directly to the EL.AS headquarters. is unconstitutional and violates the Self-Government of Mount Athos, as according to the Charter, the police station of Karys and its responsibilities were subordinate to the political commander of Mount Athos, i.e. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They emphasize that the Orchard of Panagia by the decision to establish the expanded police service is treated as a joint part of the district and not as a self-governing autonomous region, contrary to all laws and ordinances.

“With these provisions, the constitutionally enshrined Self-Government of Mount Athos is fundamentally amended and in essence it is abolished, while these regulations, in any case, are taken without taking into account the position of the Holy Community”, note the four monks in the cancellation request which they filed after the decision on the establishment of the Police Directorate and which was discussed a few days ago in the expanded seven-member composition of the Council of State. “The Self-Government is being violated because the direct intervention of the police on Mount Athos is allowed,” noted Spyros Konstantopoulos, the legal representative of the monks who is handling the case, speaking to Voria.gr.

In the formal part, the appellant monks note that with the decision to establish a Police Directorate which is subordinate to the Ministry of Citizen Protection the liturgy of Mount Athos is affected. They argue that the decision conflicts with article 5 of the Charter of Mount Athos, according to which the administration of the police forces on the Athos peninsula is the responsibility of the Civil Commander, who reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Mount Athos is part of the Greek territory, but the way of administration must take into account the Self-Government, the abbot and the institutional and objective particularities of the monastic State, a claim that is implemented through the Charter, which is not decided but approved by the Greek Parliament “, they state in their application, which has been secured by Voria.gr. They raise the question of a violation of the Charter that is valid under the Constitution and the change of which requires the consent of all twenty monasteries.

In fact, in a legal study linked to the appeal and signed by “Agioreite Kelliote fathers”, they leave clear points for the decision and argue that “the power of the monasteries empowered to issue decisions by the administrative authorities of Mount Athos is abolished and the unconstitutional legislative act is essentially reinstated decree 124/1969 of the dictatorship of the Colonels, which alone dared to abolish the legal authority of the holy administrative bodies”.

The “interventions”

“The provisions of the new law do not affect the provision of the Charter of Mount Athos, which stipulates that the Political Commander has under his direct orders the power of the police, and they cannot affect this provision, because the Charter has increased formal force and no provision of the law can affect it, change it. In other words, what is defined by the Charter of Mount Athos prevails”, Anastasios Nikopoulos, professor of the History of Agios Institutions at the Free University of Berlin, told Voria.gr, reassuring the monks who appealed. Mr. Nikopoulos also points out that “practically, we must make the following distinction between the local reach of the police on the Mount Athos peninsula, i.e. their presence and the tasks they carry out and the operational planning of the police, which they cannot do locally the commander but only centrally the headquarters. After all, the observance of public order and security of Mount Athos is one of the powers that is not exercised by an organ of the Municipality of Mount Athos, but by the State”.
“Now the police can intervene in the security issues of Mount Athos directly, while with the status of the Self-Administration, this authority belongs to the commander”, Mr. Konstantopoulos objects. “On Mount Athos there is a special regime and the police, who have a completely different function, are called to implement a special regime for which they are completely incapable of doing so because they do not have the training,” he added.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine

However, the fact that the four monks who requested the annulment of the decision by which the Mount Athos Police Department was established makes an impression. they link it to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In their appeal, they note that zero crime is observed on the Athos peninsula and an increased police presence is not justified. But what they say is indicative: “The preventive strong policing of Mount Athos for reasons of public safety due to the Russo-Ukrainian war is not commensurate with the danger that has occurred in the Greek area and especially on the territory of Mount Athos. In this way, the rights of the monks of Mount Athos are violated, but not only,” the text provided by Voria.gr underlines. And they continue the relevant remarks by invoking the existence of monasteries of different ethnicities (Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian) and the Romanian hermitage. “The constantly escalating literature which, without any substantial documentation, implicates the monasteries or individual monasteries in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, does not constitute a legitimate public interest reason for the curtailment of the special privileged status”, they convey in their appeal.

The promotion of this specific reason as an argument is also pointed out by the rapporteur of the Council of State in the discussion of the case, however he states that no such element emerges. “From the data in the file and the opinions of the Administration, it does not appear that the challenged provisions were put in place for the above reason”, notes the rapporteur of the case who quotes the arguments of both sides. “The legislative initiative was taken with the start of the war and this was transferred to the monks,” remarked Mr. Konstantopoulos to Voria.gr.
In the memorandum testified by the four monks during the discussion of the case at the CoE cited a series of functions that in their opinion will be violated by the operation of the Police Directorate. In particular, the inspectors of Northern Greece of EL.AS state that the new service will exercise all police powers without discrimination. will exercise control and supervision, that the new service will be able to enter into partnerships regardless of whether they affect the operation of Mount Athos, will be able to issue regulations for the area, will be able to operate any service of the body and will be able to to install surveillance systems in its public spaces.

However, on the part of the State after the application submitted to the Supreme Court correction of the Presidential Decree was attempted. In particular, as mentioned in the rapporteur’s text, a new Presidential Decree was published on that which provided for the establishment of the Police Directorate, with the addition of the paragraph stating that “from the provisions of this article the responsibilities of the Political Commander of Mount Athos are not affecteds, as they are defined”. Also, the new police service was recently inaugurated with the blessings and presence of the political and religious administration of Mount Athos, in Karyes.