Focus editor aquitted of insulting national symbols

Focus editor aquitted of insulting national symbols

by Damian Mac Con Uladh 3 Apr 2012

The front cover of the offending issue of the Focus, which was published on 22 February 2010, depicted the Venus de Milo sculpture of the Goddess Aphrodite, a soiled and tattered Greek flag draped around her hips, “giving the finger” alongside the headline “Cheats the euro family” The editor of a German news magazine was found not guilty of insulting national symbols by an Athens court on Tuesday. Six Greek lawyers had taken the case against Helmut Markwort, publisher of Focus, over a front-page cover the weekly news magazine ran in February 2010 depicting the Venus de Milo sculpture “giving the finger” alongside the headline “Cheats in the euro family”. Athens misdemeanors court found Markwort not guilty on the basis that defamation cannot be experienced collectively, as argued by the plaintiffs. The court also ruled that the magazine's cover did not denigrate national symbols because the flag depicted around the waist of the statue was not a real flag. In addition, the court dismissed the charges brought against four other Focus journalists and a freelance travel writer, Klaus Boetig, for defamation because of a recent law reducing the statute of limitations for all offences which carry a prison sentence of up to one year. The defendants had written articles on Greece for Focus' print and, in Boetig's case, the online edition. Law 4043 states that no one can be tried for an offense that carries twelve months in jail, as long as the crime was committed before 31 December 2011. None of the defendants were present for the trial, which began in November.   http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/54576

Klaus Boetig