Half a billion euros lost from unexecuted court rulings

These verdicts were issued in the absence of the accused, either because they were not properly summoned, or because they chose to …disappear. The offenses in these cases were misdemeanors and the court imposed redeemable sentences, according to which the defendant would either have to pay the penalty or serve his sentence. 

These decisions are communicated by the prosecutor’s offices around the country to the citizen protection ministry and then authorities are alerted to locate those convicted. But police forces are not sufficient to find these people, so the state can not receive the money from the takeovers. According to judicial experts, a solution to this dead end was the operation of the judicial police, which has been institutionalized since 1993 but has so far remained just an idea. 

According to data presented by «protothemaonline», of 320,000 unexecuted rulings, 38,000 concern Greek nationals. They are in absentia trials where the relevant authorities can not identify the offenders. They have issued 53,000 court rulings against persons whose ethnicity can not be identified… 

In 2008 the Greek state managed to collect only 20 million from such trials, in 2009 15 million, and 17 million in 2010. 

The escorts from such arrests to the prosecution are about 50 to 70 on average per day, while revenues are estimated at 50 to 60,000 euros per day. 

This impressive information that the Greek state can not collect more than 500 million from unexecuted court decisions was recently supplied by justice minister Miltiadis Papaioannou, who announced a package for fast trials (and) reducing sentences against Greece for “systematic and repeated” violation of the reasonable time period for implementation of the law. 

From 1997 until today the European Court of Human Rights has forced the Greek state to pay compensation amounting to 8,420,822 euros. Until today the convictions against our country concern 360 cases, including one for which the court decision came 27 years late! The new measures also provide for compensation of the parties in administrative proceedings for exceeding the reasonable duration of a trial.