Capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

modern Greece The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day. Background The Byzantine Empire had ...

was carried out using the

guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...

(until 1913) or by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

. It was last applied in 1972 during the

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

, and the death penalty was abolished in stages between 1975 and 2005.

History

Executions during the Greek War of Independence were carried out by firing squad, although when the

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

introduced the Penal Code in 1834, beheading by guillotine became the only mode of execution. In 1847, difficulties in making the guillotine available for every execution made the government establish the firing squad as an alternative mode of execution. Both would be used until the firing squad was established as the only means of execution in 1929 (the last execution by guillotine took place in 1913). Over 3,000 executions took place between 1946 and 1949 during the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...

. The last execution took place on 25 August 1972, when the 27-year-old

Vassilis Lymberis Vassilis Lymberis ( el, Βασίλης Λυμπέρης; 1945 – 25 August 1972) was a Greek mass murderer who killed his wife, his two children, and his mother-in-law, by burning down his family home in January 1972. Lymberis was executed for th ...

was shot by firing squad for the murder of his wife, mother-in-law and two children (he burned them alive inside their house) on the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. Capital punishment was abolished for peacetime crimes other than

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

during wartime by article 7 of the Constitution of 1975. Previously, the three leading members of the Greek junta,

Georgios Papadopoulos Geórgios Papadopoulos (; el, Γεώργιος Παπαδόπουλος ; 5 May 1919 – 27 June 1999) was a Greeks, Greek military officer and political leader who ruled Greece as a military dictator from 1967 to 1973. He joined the Hellenic ...

Stylianos Pattakos Stylianos Pattakos ( el, Στυλιανός Παττακός; 8 November 1912 – 8 October 2016) was a Greek military officer. Pattakos was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that overthrew the government of Pana ...

, and

Nikolaos Makarezos Nikolaos Makarezos ( el, Νικόλαος Μακαρέζος; 1919 – 3 August 2009) was a Greek Army officer and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. Early life and career He was born in 1919 in the village of ...

were sentenced to death for mutiny during the

Greek Junta Trials The Greek junta trials ( el, Οι Δίκες της Χούντας translated as: The Τrials of the Junta) were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the ins ...

, but these sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the Karamanlis government. In 1997 Greece ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, fr ...

, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty; however, a reservation was made allowing for death penalty use for the most serious crimes, i.e. high treason, committed during wartime. Protocol No. 6 to the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

(ECHR), providing for the abolition of the death penalty in peacetime, was ratified in 1998. Greece abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2004. In 2005, Greece ratified the Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR, concerning the abolition of the death penalty under all circumstances. The Golden Dawn party called in 2013 for the restoration of the death penalty for immigrants convicted of violent crimes."Golden Dawn Seeks Death For Violent Migrants"
Greek Reporter, 31 March 2013

References

External links

to ICCPR
Protocol No. 6
an
Protocol No. 13
to ECHR - text of the treaties, dates of signature and ratification
Abolitionist and retentionist countries
- report by Amnesty International {{Capital punishment in Europe Penal system in Greece

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Death in Greece Human rights abuses in Greece 2004 disestablishments in Greece