A Modern Tragedy in Democratic Greece

By “Awake!” correspondent in Greece

IN THE theater, a “tragedy” is a form of serious play or drama about unhappy events. The play usually ends in disaster. Among the first of such dramas were those in ancient Greece, centuries before the time of Christ.

In modern-day Greece there is also an unhappy drama taking place. It too has been ending in tragedy. However, this drama is no mere play-acting in some theater. It is a real-life tragedy that is taking place every day in the lives of peaceful, law-abiding Greek citizens.

These Greek citizens are young men who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are being denied any semblance of justice and are being thrown into jail repeatedly. Their only “offense” is that they cannot conscientiously bear arms and share in mankind’s wars. When one prison sentence is fulfilled, these victims are again tried and convicted on the same charge and imprisoned once again.

This twentieth-century Greek tragedy has fallen on these young men because their Christian conscience will not allow them to bear war weapons. In this they obey the God-given command to “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears.”’ They are fulfilling the Bible prophecy that says, “Neither will they learn war anymore.”​—Isa. 2:4.

Their stand is consistent and universal. It is the same as is taken by Jehovah’s Witnesses in every nation on earth. And it follows the example of Jesus and his disciples who taught peace. As Jesus told one of his followers, ‘put down the sword.’​—Matt. 26:52.

Greek Writer Protests

Recently, the Athens daily newspaper TA NEA carried an account of some of the young men who are being detained in prisons. The writer of the article, Vas. Vasilikos, referred to them as a category of prisoners “of whom no one ever speaks. These are Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have repeatedly been sentenced by law-courts on the self-same ‘charge’: refusal to take a weapon.”

Mr. Vasilikos noted some of these by name. For instance, there is Nick Saridis, who is thirty-nine years old and married. Saridis was sentenced and imprisoned for the first time in 1960. He was later sentenced and imprisoned a second time, and then still a third time in 1976.

George Gounelas, age thirty, is married and the father of a four-year-old child. Yet he has been sentenced to prison twice. What an inhuman punishment this is for a married man with a child, and in a land that has prided itself for once being the ‘cradle of democracy”.

Sterghius Panayotelis is twenty-eight years old. He was first sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The second time he was sentenced to two years, and a third time, to two and a half years. George Kufoyannis, twenty-eight, has been jailed three times in succession, again all on the same charge​—refusal to bear weapons of death.

In his article, Mr. Vasilikos noted many other Witnesses who had been imprisoned repeatedly, and he added: “Another 31 (thirty-one) imprisoned Jehovah’s Witnesses, sentenced for the first time, and all detained in the prison of Jeannina (except four who are detained at Avlona), are still awaiting their turn to be convicted for a second, third or fourth time.”

Then the writer concludes: “The offence, which is that of refusing to take up weapons, is penalized in perpetuity.”

Such treatment of peace-loving and law-abiding citizens of a country is indeed shocking. Few places in the world would think of inflicting such unreasonable punishment on innocent people.

Officials Protest

To try to change this tragic situation, legal steps have been taken with the Greek government, including initiatives by certain Greek Deputies of Parliament. But so far nothing has changed with regard to this acute problem.

However, two Greek Deputies submitted the following information to the Greek Chamber of Deputies, stating: “One of man’s foremost rights is that of religious freedom. Just as all the other human rights, it has been safeguarded by the Charter of the United Nations (it was signed on January 6, 1945, and sanctioned in Greece by Law No 585/1945) and also by the International Treaty of Rome (November 4, 1950, sanctioned in Greece by Law No 2329/​March 21, 1953). The human rights are also safeguarded by the Hellenic Constitution.”

The Deputies further stated: “Despite all this, a class of Greek citizens, belonging to the religious group called Jehovah’s Witnesses, are systematically persecuted and sentenced repeatedly to penalties for the self-same offence​—in particular, for refusing to perform military duty. . . . In many other European countries . . . this class of citizens has specifically been exempted from the obligation to serve in the army. Elsewhere, the relevant penalty varies from four [months in prison] (Switzerland) up to three years (France) where the prison penalty is twice the time of military service. Even Spain itself does not inflict any longer penalty than two and one half [years in prison]. Quite obvious is the injustice made against these Greek citizens, who are sentenced not just one time, but repeatedly.”

The Deputies recommended: “It would be righteous if all those who provedly belong to this religious group be entitled to military exemption.” Then they asked concerning the Ministers of Justice and National Defence: “What steps are they going to take, in order to put an end to this flagrant injustice against citizens, whose only fault is the consistence with which they follow the dictates of their conscience?”

So far, no official steps have been taken to stop this unfair treatment of innocent people. But millions world wide hope for an early end of this tragedy in democratic Greece.