A particularly interesting statement was made by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Member of Parliament for Chania Dora Bakoyannis made a particularly interesting statement during today’s session of the Committee on Constitutional Revision.
Referring to the “blue” proposal to abolish amnesty for political crimes, as provided for in Article 47 of the Constitution, she emphasized that “it is an act of institutional self-confidence in the democracy we have managed to build, but also a minimal tribute to all those families of the victims of terrorism, who cannot tolerate the murderers of their loved ones being treated as anything more than what they are: murderers.”
“For many decades now, our democracy has not needed to provide for special exceptions for those who turn against it, and it must not offer any assistance to those who attempt to cloak their bigotry, inhumanity, and perversion with a veneer of supposedly constitutionally recognized political motives. “Nothing, absolutely nothing—not a single party should exist within the Constitution that serves the narrative of the enemies of democracy”, the former foreign minister emphasized at another point.
“The abolition of the possibility of amnesty for political crimes constitutes an act of institutional self-confidence in the democracy we have managed to build, as well as a minimal tribute to all those families of terrorism victims who cannot tolerate the murderers of their loved ones being treated as anything more than what they are: murderers. This is what respect for the institutions of the rule of law and democratic legitimacy demands, and I would hope that we could at least agree on this,” he further emphasized.
“This provision has historical roots and for many decades has served the national interest,” said a New Democracy MP at another point, adding: “It was necessary during a time of civil war, national divisions, and political instability. National reconciliation at that time required a different approach to crimes committed between political opponents. It sometimes required us to forget our past in order to prevent it from haunting our future. Our greatest source of pride in the quality of our democracy, from the restoration of democracy onward, is that we no longer need such “necessary evils” to coexist. Fortunately, in the years since, Greek democracy has matured, grown stronger, and, when necessary, demonstrated its resilience and ability to defend itself. The democratic institutions we have built, the political culture we have established, and the smooth transfer of power we have guaranteed, stripped political violence of its ideological cloak and equated it with common crime.”
