An Athens appeals court on Monday threw out a very prominent first instance lewdness with minors conviction against a former New Democracy (ND) deputy, accepting a relevant prosecutor's recommendation to grudgingly accept a defense motion invoking a revision in the country's penal code, which essentially eliminated the offense from the Greek justice system's jurisdiction.
The charges against one-time Corfu MP Nikos Georgiadis dated to 2010, with the charge against him referring to alleged offenses occurring in Moldova.
"Unfortunately, the motion for cessation of the case must be accepted. A judge is obliged to follow the law, even if this causes citizens to ask how the new penal code considers insignificant, and thus suspends, various types of misdemeanors, including those inflicted upon minors," the prosecutor announced in court.
An utterly controversial and criticized revision of Greece's penal code was engineered late last June, in the waning days of the previous Tsipras government, with a slim Parliament majority of deputies from the leftist SYRIZA party approving of the revisions.
According to media reports, the charge of lewdness (a misdemeanor) was removed from a list of offenses that the Greek justice system can try when the latter are allegedly committed outside the country.
In the first instance, a three-justice Athens misdemeanor court had found Georgiadis - by a two to one ruling - guilty of the charge of repeatedly and persistently engaging in lewdness, while handing down a 28-month jail sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros. No extenuating circumstances were recognized by the first instance court.
