mr president on behalf of one of my constituents i want to raise the case of a young man with dual british greek nationality named john zafiropoulos
last year he was convicted by a first-degree greek court to serve an unconscionably severe sentence in prison in greece
from the information i have been given mr president i consider that the crucial rules relating to greek legislation as well as the provisions for fair trials have been violated
these fair trial provisions are defined by all of europe and are the rights of every european citizen
at the start of this year i wrote to the greek minister of justice in athens to alert him to my concerns
the response which i received three months later was signed by minor ministry employees and made no reference to the matter which i had raised with the minister in other words the breaking of the rules about fair trials
i am very concerned about this mr president and for this reason i am raising it in parliament right now hoping that athens will both send me a proper reply and deliver a full and fair review of the case of mr zafiropoulos
