The latest egregious instance of animal abuse in Greece has resulted in the felony indictment of a 47-year-old local man after a dog he repeatedly stabbed died.
The mid-sized female dog died at an Athens-area animal hospital’s ICU hours later, resulting in a felony charge added to the already jailed man’s indictment. The incident was captured on cellphone video by an eyewitness and is in the possession of authorities, with Mega Channel showing footage of a man stabbing the animal after first leading it from inside a building.
The witness is the one who filed a lawsuit with police, leading to an investigation and the subsequent recovery of the seriously injured animal in a nearby garbage can and the man’s arrest.
The suspect is also under investigation in other domesticated animal deaths in the inner Athens district of Kypseli, and, according to reports, had been under suspicion for past abuse.
Criminal code revisions after 2019 – aimed to overcome overly lenient provisions in Greek law – made certain instances of animal cruelty and abuse a felony, and in some cases envisioning mandatory prison sentences.
