Greece’s justice ministry has reportedly drafted a new legal provision that will make pre-trial remand mandatory in cases where a suspect is arrested on charges of committing new – mostly – felony – offenses while free on bail.
The draft provision is expected to be unveiled for public deliberation in the coming period.
The measure, if ratified and turned into law, aims to stiffen the legal procedures for suspects arrested, charged, arraigned and conditionally freed but then re-arrested – before a trial is commenced – for similar offenses.
A high-profile case in Greece this past week witnessed a 43-year-old man arrested for allegedly being the perpetrator seen on CCTV video hitting a woman with a metal rod over the head in broad daylight in the central Athens district of Exarchia.
It later emerged that the suspect, identified as a Palestinian man, had been previously arrested and charged with a serious offense (attempted sexual assault) last June, but was later released pending trial.
Another change reportedly eyed by the ministry is to extend a pretrial remand period beyond 12 months in cases where a suspect is presumed to be involved with a criminal or terrorist organization or gang, and where a possible conviction of filed charges can hand down a 10-year sentence. The latter extension would also cover a crime involving a high number of affected individuals or victims.
The draft provisions are included in an omni-bus draft bill dealing with domestic violence, violence against woman and combatting criminality, in general, including so-called petty crime.
At last report, the draft bill has been delivered to the government’s general secretariat.
