Greece’s Supreme Court and the high court’s prosecutor’s office on Tuesday evening issued an extraordinary joint press release taking to task several Internet sites for their coverage of an explosive case of alleged rape on the jet-setting island of Mykonos involving three Pakistani men. All three were initially arrested as the possible perpetrators.
The case emerged on the national limelight days ago when authorities on Greece’s admittedly premier “party island” arrested the trio of foreign nationals after a rape accusation by a South African tourist in late June this year.
After the initial arrests the local prosecutor’s office assigned the case ordered that the suspects to walk free without any bail conditions, with judicial authorities stating that video footage included in the indictment points to a consenting sexual encounter among all the adults involved.
Among others, the joint announcement on Tuesday bemoans what it calls the “selective leaking” of a criminal case’s information to the press, a practice cited as “unfortunately, frequent and absolutely illegal”.
“Such practices”, the announcement adds, “often result in disinformation and the creation of false impressions vis-à-vis public opinion”.
A string of incidents involving stranger-on-stranger sexual assaults, some leading to murder, have shocked public opinion in the country over past few years, in tandem with much greater media attention, sensitivity and social indignation over domestic violence – with the latter phenomenon also involving fatal incidents as well.
