“My complaint was filed the day after the incident,” she explains Eleni Chronopoulou in her first post on Facebook about the case of harassment and abuse with accused Alexis Georgoulis and the request of the Belgian authorities to lift the MEP’s immunity.

“Three years ago, at the beginning of 2020, I filed a complaint against a certain Greek MEP for the crimes of rape and causing bodily harm,” notes Ms. Chronopoulou, without naming Mr. Georgoulis.

“My complaint was made the day after the incident, providing the necessary information (forensic reports, etc.) and 4 months later, in May 2020, I felt ready to give the name of the abuser to the Belgian authorities, who are also the alone responsible for the handling of the case” he says characteristically.

As he even emphasizes, “yesterday’s leak of my name was apparently done without my consent and constitutes in itself a very serious violation of my privacy and also of the criminal procedure. It is sad that some represent human rights defenderson the altar of political management to put me in the midst of vulgar and infuriating attacks”.

Eleni Chronopoulou’s post in detail

“3 years ago, at the beginning of 2020, I filed a complaint against a certain Greek MEP for the offenses of rape and causing bodily harm.

I knew from the first moment that this process would possibly turn out to be painful for me, my family, my loved ones, as unfortunately very often happens with the victims of such behaviors. But I did it thinking that I owed it to myself and to every woman who might find herself in a similar position.

My complaint was made the day after the incident, providing the necessary information (forensic reports, etc.) and 4 months later, in May 2020, I felt ready to give the name of the abuser to the Belgian authorities, who are the only ones responsible for handling the case.

During these 3 years I have consciously chosen to deal with the matter only with my lawyers, without informing anyone else, not even my family whom I tried to protect in every way. The publicizing of the event at this particular time was made following the official request of the Belgian authorities to lift the MEP’s immunity after a thorough examination of the case.

Yesterday’s leak of my name was apparently done without my consent and is in itself a very serious violation of my privacy as well as the criminal process. It is also sad that some who pretend to be defenders of human rights, on the altar of political management, put me in the middle of vulgar and infuriating attacks.

I am in politics to fight, through PASOK-KINAL, for my ideas and principles and I do not wish any of my public presence to be determined by this unpleasant case for me.

The time has come for the feeling of shame and guilt to fall not on the victims, but on the perpetrators of similar incidents and those who tolerate them.”