GREECE: Greek schoolboys charged with gang raping Bulgarian classmate, incident stirs fears of racism

The case of four Greek schoolboys being charged with allegedly gang raping a 16-year-old Bulgarian classmate, has prompted public outcry and a fear of racism in Greece. The story has dominated the Greek newspaper headlines and local media have camped in front of a village high school after the incident. The Greek press rights group and officials have expressed shock at how the village of Amarinthos, where the crime took place, initially blamed the immigrant girl, and tried to ostracise her. Greece's President Karolos Papoulias called it a shocking moment for Greece and sent his advisor to meet the girl's mother. The girl told police that on October 27 the boys raped her for an hour in the school toilets while three girls watched and taped the incident on a mobile phone. "I cried, screamed and begged them to stop, but they were like beasts," she said in her testimony, printed in the Greek press. "When it was over, they cheered and ridiculed me," she also said in her testimony. Police said medical examinations showed physical abuse. A local police official told Reuters that they believe it was rape. On Thursday (November 2) the school board expelled the boys for five days, but also expelled the alleged victim. The country's radio and television commission watchdog warned the local media to treat the issue with more sensitivity because of the fact that minors were involved and called for television stations to be monitored. The Greek government has offered financial support to the girl and her mother and assistance if they choose to leave the village, as the girl has said she cannot return. Greece's education Minister said she was considering forbidding mobile phones from schools after hearing the incident was taped on one. Police said the boys initially denied the incident, but later said they had consensual sex. The girls, who later erased the mobile video, were charged with complicity. Many in the village of Amarinthos on the island of Evia, with a population of 5,000, initially rushed to defend the boys. Locals called television stations to say the girl provoked them, any rape was her fault and that she should never come back. The mayor of the village, Yannis Manousos first told Reuters that the boys were upset about the incident as well. However he later said he regretted the incident and insisted the community was not against the girl. On Friday, neither the mayor or teachers of the village would comment on the incident. "There is no racism in our village. Just because of this one incident, it doesn't speak for the whole village," a local resident said. The girl and her mother left the Danube port town of Rousse in 1999 looking for a better life in Greece, like hundreds of thousands of east European immigrants. The case has dominated Greek TV news and grabbed front page headlines, with commentators slamming what they said were Greek provincial mentalities, sexist and racist views that women bring rape upon themselves and that abusing foreigners is acceptable.

ITN Source | November 6, 2006

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