By Ioanna Mandrou

With the new provisions of the legislation on domestic violence, which enable doctors, teachers and other public officials to report domestic violence bystanders, in cases where the victims do not, a well-known criminologist has been arrested for brutally beating his wife of him, also a lawyer, who went to a private clinic on her own.

Without her wanting to reveal the real cause of her serious injuries, the doctors, based on the new law, notified the prosecutors, as they concluded that her claim was not accurate, that fell down the stairs in her house.

The well-known criminologist was arrested after the doctors’ report, taken to the public prosecutor and is now being prosecuted for grievous bodily harm, a very serious offense that is prosecuted as a felony.

Already after the initiation of criminal proceedings, he was brought before an investigator and will apologize after the legal deadline.

The incident of the brutal beating of the wife of the well-known criminologist concerned the judicial authorities, when his wife, the victim, attended a private clinic in order to deal with her serious injuries. The victim claimed to cover up the truth, as is usually the case, that she fell down the stairs, but the attending doctors diagnosed her claim as having no relation to reality, as they judged that it was obvious that the injuries had been caused by human hands.

In implementation of the new legislation on domestic violence, the doctors informed the relevant authorities and the arrest of the well-known criminal lawyer was the continuation of the legal process.

The new law.

The newly established provision obliges doctors to notify the authorities when during the examination they find findings that refer to domestic violence, regardless of what the victim declares.

In parallel with the establishment of the obligation to report, the law shields doctors and other professionals (e.g. educators, teachers, psychologists) who report incidents of domestic violence that fall within their knowledge, with relative immunity from vindictive lawsuits against the perpetrators, but also avoidance of suffering to testify as witnesses in the audience during the trial of the case. (unless the court deems their testimony in physical presence absolutely necessary and the reading of their report is not sufficient).

The new article 23 of Law 3500/2006 as formulated by Law Floridis 5090/2024 and its corresponding rationale are as follows:

Article 130

“Article 23

Obligations of professionals

1. Educator, teacher, member of the special educational staff or of the special auxiliary staff of primary or secondary education, social worker, psychologist, curator, coach or doctor who provides his services to a minor, who in the performance of his duties is informed or finds in any way that a crime of domestic violence has been committed against a minor, he is obliged to report it to the competent prosecuting authorities without delay. The same obligation applies to a doctor who, based on serious objective findings of the medical examination, finds that a crime of domestic violence has been committed against an adult.

2. The persons referred to in paragraph 1, who report a crime of domestic violence, are not charged, sued, disciplined, fired, or subjected to any other type of sanctions or adverse treatment, for the incident they reported in the course of their duties, unless they knowingly made a false report.

2. A. The persons of par. 1 are invited to be examined as witnesses during the proceedings in the audience, only if the crime of domestic violence is not proven by any other means of evidence.