“It took me ten years to understand that a child is not guilty,” The 21-year-old complainant recently told the Greek press, accusing her sailing coach, 18 years her senior, of having raped her when she was between 11 and 13 years old. Wednesday, January 26, the young woman will be called to the bar to testify at a hearing behind closed doors. This trial is the first directly from the #metoo movement, which was born late in Greece a little over a year ago, following the testimony of Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou.
In December 2020, this athlete had publicly declared that she had been sexually assaulted at the age of 21 by a senior official of her federation in 1998, during preparations for the Sydney Olympics. The facts regarding her were prescribed. But, in agreement with the victim, she had reported to the prosecutor the case of the young girl sexually assaulted by coach Triantafyllos Apostolou; the latter had himself revealed his identity in an interview with a Greek media. Sofia Bekatorou is to be heard as a witness during the trial.
In Greek patriarchal society, the sportswoman broke a taboo and freed the voices of many assaulted women. In the months that followed his declarations, there were revelations affecting sports, universities and culture… Accused of raping minors, the former artistic director of the Greek National Theatre, Dimitris Lignadis will be tried from February. In March, it will be the turn of a famous actor, Petros Filippidis, to answer accusations of raping actresses.
“Significant” increase in complaints
For the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Sofia Bekatorou allowed“raising awareness”. The outcome of the trial, which opens on Wednesday “may help to give confidence to other victims of sexual abuse, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer, Clio Papapantoleon. The road is open. A lot of business is going on. All in all, I feel like justice is rising to the occasion compared to what started a year ago,” she added to the Kokkino radio microphone.
In a magazine interview Marie Claire Greek version, Sofia Bekatorou however denounced in December 2021 the fact that 37 complaints from young girls in the world of gymnastics have remained a dead letter and that the alleged perpetrators continue to occupy positions of high responsibility in the federation.
A few days ago, a new case ignited social networks: Giorgia, a 24-year-old young woman, accuses three men, including members of high society in Thessaloniki (the second largest city in the country) and the owners of Coca-Cola Greece, of having drugged and raped her in a hotel during a New Year’s Eve. An investigation has been opened.
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