Definitive Report - Report No 6, 1953

Case No 18 (Greece) - Complaint date: 01-JUL-51 - Closed

A. Analysis of the Complaints

1. 323. The complainants make the following allegations:
   • (a) The Greek Government violated trade union rights by causing several leaders of the Greek Federation of Maritime Trade Unions to be imprisoned and maltreated ; in particular, ten Greek trade unionists have been in danger of being executed.
   • (b) The Greek Government also caused Dimitrios Tatakis, Secretary of the Merchant Navy Officers' Trade Union and a member of the executive of the Greek Federation of Maritime Trade Unions, to be tortured and assassinated.

B. Analysis of the Replies

• Analysis of the First Reply (10 January 1952)
  324. 324 In a telegram dated 10 January 1952 the Greek Government put forward the following arguments:
       • (a) According to the formal affirmations of the Ministry of Justice, nobody has ever been prosecuted or sentenced for trade union activities but only in respect of common law crimes.
       • (b) D. Tatakis, according to official information received, died a natural death after a long illness.
  325. 325 The Government added that such accusations should be accompanied by details indicating the names of the persons arrested and explaining the circumstances in each case.
• Request for Further Information
  326. 326 At its meeting on 10-12 January 1952, the Committee on Freedom of Association decided to request the Director-General to obtain further information from the Greek Government before it formulated its recommendations to the Governing Body. By a letter dated 22 January 1952, the Director-General requested further information on the two following points : (a) the names and descriptions of the persons proceeded against, the precise nature of the crimes in respect of which proceedings were taken and the judgments given against them ; (b) the circumstances of the death of Mr. Tatakis, with a view to ascertaining in particular whether his death occurred in prison or whether it followed a prolonged period of detention.
• Analysis of the Second Reply (1 February 1952)
  327. 327 In its second reply, dated 1 February 1952, the Greek Government maintained, first, that the question under review had no relation to that of the guarantee of trade union rights, as the fact that some of those sentenced were trade union officials could in no way excuse them from having to observe the law. It considered, therefore, that the question was outside the competence of the Committee on Freedom of Association.
  328. 328 The Government then gave the following details concerning the two questions referred to it:
• Prosecution and Sentencing of Trade Union Leaders
  329. 329 The persons in question were sentenced by the military court at Athens according to a free and public procedure, and after lengthy proceedings in the course of which it was established that they had conspired to detach a portion of the national territory and to promote the realisation of plans to this end. Their sentence, therefore had no connection with their trade union activities. Moreover, there existed in Greece free trade unions affiliated to the I.C.F.T.U and the exercise of trade union rights was fully guaranteed.
  330. 330 The Federation of Maritime Trade Unions (O.E.N.O), to which some of those sentenced belonged, was a treasonable organisation which, like the communist party, the seamen's political committee and other unlawful organisations, furthered the activities of armed bands working against the State (for example, by sending money and clothing, enrolling in these bands unemployed sailors, distributing anarchist literature). The fact that these persons rendered themselves guilty of activity endangering the safety of the Greek State and that their sentence had no connection with their trade union activities was, moreover, recognised by the local trade union organisations, in particular, in a letter dated 2 October 1951 from a trade union organisation affiliated to the International Transportworkers' Federation. Further, the Greek Government was sure that the International Labour Organisation was aware of the activities of the O.E.N.O, some of whose members have been the subject of legal proceedings in various countries or have been deported on account of their illegal and subversive activities. Among those judged, ten were sentenced to death and others to various penalties.
  331. 331 In view of the independence of the judicial authorities, which is guaranteed under the Constitution, the Government could not demand the liberation of persons duly sentenced by the courts. However, the Government had on several occasions requested Parliament to enact measures of clemency, in particular, the adoption of a procedure of scrutiny of judicial decisions involving the death penalty.
  332. 332 At present the situation was as follows : those condemned, according to information given by the competent authorities, were all alive and the death sentences would be the subject of a new examination.
• Circumstances of the Death of Mr. Tatakis
  333. 333 The allegation that Mr. Tatakis was tortured and murdered is incorrect and tendentious. From information given by the public authorities it is clear that he died a natural death from uraemia after having been detained for about 14 months. The reasons for his detention were related to those which led to the sentencing of the other members of the O.E.N.O and had no connection with the exercise of trade union rights.
• Provisional Decision of the Committee and Further Request for Supplementary Information
  334. 334 At its meeting in March 1952, the Committee on Freedom of Association, which examined this reply, provisionally decided that the complaint in question, in view of its essentially political character, did not call for further examination on the part of the Governing Body. It requested the Director-General to express to the Greek Government its appreciation of the legislative measures of clemency which it had taken, particularly as concerns the application of the legal procedure for the adoption of measures of grace in favour of persons under sentence of death. The Committee also asked the Director-General to request the Government to keep him informed as to the results of the further judicial examination before it formulated its recommendation to the Governing Body. By a letter dated 29 March 1952 the Director-General communicated this decision to the Greek Government and requested the latter to keep him informed of the fate of the ten persons condemned to death by the military tribunal.
• Analysis of the Further Supplementary Information Supplied by the Government
  335. 335 In further communications the Government has furnished the following information on the two points raised in the complaints presented against it.
• Prosecution and Sentencing of Trade Union Leaders
  336. 336 By a letter dated 17 September 1952 the Government states that the Court of Review, which sat on 21 August 1952, has confirmed, in the case of most of the condemned persons, the sentences pronounced by the military tribunal -sentence of death, in ten cases-but that, by virtue of an Act adopted in 1952, all death sentences issued in the past were automatically commuted to life imprisonment and that, consequently, there exists no case with regard to the execution of the death sentences.
  337. 337 By a letter dated 20 October 1952, the Greek Ministry of Labour forwarded two letters of 2 August 1952 and 23 September 1952 from the Ministry of National Defence and the General Staff of the Greek Army ; these letters give information as to the position of each of those condemned after the review proceedings. It appears that the death sentences have been automatically commuted to life imprisonment, six persons being condemned to this penalty and having the right to apply to the Pardon Council ; the other accused have been sentenced to confinement for from ten to 20 years and may benefit from the provisions of the " leniency measures " Act which provides for conditional liberation in certain cases ; one of these persons has already had his penalty remitted and has already been set free.
• Circumstances of the Death of Mr. Tatakis
  338. 338 Following the information contained in its second reply dated 1 February 1952, the Greek Government communicated to the Director-General, by letter of 28 May 1952, an official certificate showing that Mr. Tatakis died from uraemia.

C. C. The Committee's conclusions

• Question as to Competence of the Committee on Freedom of Association
  339. 339 The Greek Government in its reply expressed the view that the complaints made against it were outside the competence of the Committee on Freedom of Association in view of the fact that the problem was not one of the guarantee of trade union rights and because the fact that a sentenced person is a trade union leader is no ground for reprieving him from sentences pronounced against him pursuant to penal law.
  340. 340 In the opinion of the Committee it must, in view of its terms of reference, consider that any complaint based on the arrest of trade union leaders -an arrest, which, according to the complainants, is the consequence of their trade union activities-contains an allegation of violation of trade union rights and, for this reason, comes within its competence. By adopting this view it in no way prejudges the merits of the substance of the complaint.
• Allegations relating to the Prosecution and Sentencing of Trade Union Leaders
  341. 341 The two requests for supplementary information addressed in this connection to the Greek Government by the Committee on Freedom of Association related to the two following points
  342. 342 The Committee had first requested information as to the names and descriptions of persons proceeded against, the precise nature of the crimes in respect of which proceedings were taken and the judgments given against them.
  343. 343 The Committee had requested later to be informed as to the result of the review of the trial of the trade union leaders, a review which was to take place in accordance with the clemency measures which the Government had adopted.
  344. 344 On the first point, the Government, which in its earlier replies did not give in detail the names and descriptions of the persons proceeded against, mentions, in the last communication from the General Staff of the Greek Army, the names of various persons proceeded against and the penalties to which each was sentenced. With regard to the nature of the crimes in respect of which these persons were sentenced, the Government points out that there was no question of their trade union activities being involved but that it had been proved that these persons had rendered themselves guilty of acts with a view to detaching a portion of Greek territory, that is to say, to endangering the safety of the State. The Government points out in this connection that, while it cannot demand the liberation of those sentenced, as this would be a violation of the Constitution which proclaims the independence of the judicial authorities, it has on several occasions requested Parliament to vote measures of clemency, and that the trial of those sentenced was the subject of a review procedure following applications made by them by virtue of Act No. 1504/1950.
  345. 345 With regard to the second request of the Committee, the Government has, in several communications, indicated the results of the review procedure, which took place on 21 August 1952 and following which the Court of Review confirmed the majority of the death sentences. In this connection, the Government pointed out that, in its desire to follow a policy of mercy, it adopted Act No. 2058/1952, by virtue of which the death sentences confirmed by the Court of Review have been automatically commuted to life imprisonment, while those sentenced to temporary confinement may, in certain cases, benefit by being conditionally set free.
  346. 346 It appears from these various replies that the Government has supplied the supplementary information requested by the Committee on Freedom of Association and that, in so far as it was in its power, the Government has followed a policy of mercy by virtue of which the death sentences pronounced against trade union leaders for activities independent of the exercise of trade union rights have been commuted to life imprisonment in most cases and, in certain other cases, to temporary confinement.
  347. 347 Under these circumstances, the Committee confirms the provisional decision which it took at its meeting in March 1952 to note with satisfaction the measures of clemency adopted by the Government, and recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
• Allegations relating to the Circumstances of the Death of Mr. Tatakis
  348. 348 As in the case of the preceding allegation, the Government has supplied the information requested by the Committee on Freedom of Association at its meeting in January 1952 with regard to the circumstances of the death of Mr. Tatakis, with a view especially to ascertaining whether his death occurred in prison or followed a prolonged period of detention.
  349. 349 It would appear from the Government's reply that Mr. Tatakis died a natural death after a period of detention of some 14 months, the grounds for his detention, as in the case of other members of O.E.N.O, being activities contrary to national interests and not connected with the exercise of trade union rights. The Government has supplied a certificate showing that the death of Mr. Tatakis was caused by uraemia.
  350. 350 The Committee notes the information which the Greek Government has been good enough to furnish regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Tatakis and that, according to medical opinion, on which the Committee is not competent to express a view, his death was due to illness.
  351. 351 Under these circumstances, the Committee confirms the provisional decision which it took at its meeting in March 1952 and recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.

352. The Committee, following the communication of the foregoing information by the Government, recommends the Governing Body to decide that the case as a whole does not call for further examination.