Definitive Report - Report No 36, 1960

Case No 185 (Greece) - Complaint date: 05-AUG-58 - Closed

1. 133. In a communication dated 5 August 1958 addressed directly to the I.L.O, the Co-ordination Committee of Salonica Workers' and Employees' Organisations formulated allegations of infringements of the exercise of trade union rights in Greece. The complainants furnished further information concerning these allegations in a letter dated 9 September 1958. The complaint and the further information in substantiation thereof were communicated to the Government for its observations by a letter dated 1 October 1958.
2. 134. At its 20th Session (Geneva, November 1958), the Committee, not having received the Government's observations, decided to adjourn its examination of the case until its next session; the Government was informed of this decision by a letter dated 2 December 1958.
3. 135. By a communication dated 6 November 1958 the complainants furnished more supplementary information in substantiation of their complaint. This was transmitted to the Government by a letter dated 5 December 1958.
4. 136. The Government forwarded its observations on the case by a communication dated 15 February 1959.
5. 137. When the complaint and the Government's observations came before it at its 21st Session (Geneva, February 1959), the Committee considered it necessary to obtain further information from the Government before formulating its recommendations to the Governing Body.
6. 138. The request for this information was conveyed to the Greek Government by a letter dated 12 March 1959. The Government replied by a communication dated 13 April 1959.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 139. The complainants allege in general terms that a wave of intervention by the State in trade union life recently occurred in Greece, characterised by the arrest and deportation of many trade union leaders. In the view of the complainants these measures were intended to deprive the trade union movement of its leaders and to discourage the workers from organising in defence of their occupational and economic interests. In support of these general allegations, the complainants furnish copies of several trade union newspaper articles dealing with the trade union situation in Greece and with the legislation which, in the opinion of the complainants, hinders the normal functioning of the trade union movement.
2. 140. Apart from these general allegations, the complaining organisation refers to several specific cases of trade union leaders or militants alleged to have been arrested or deported. Thus, Mr. Costas Papavassiliou, a trade union militant who was General Secretary of the Salonica Building Workers' Union from 1930 to 1957 and was re-elected as its Vice-President in 1958, is alleged to have been interned ; Messrs. C. Repelas and Ch. Missios, respectively of the Engineering Workers' Union and the Carpenters' Union, are said to have been arrested and deported, as was Mr. Aristides Mitrogogos, Vice-President of the Salonica Accountants' Union, on 28 July 1958, while on the same date Mr. Alexandros Danielides, former General Secretary of the Commercial Employees' Union Local of Salonica, was interned. It is also alleged that Mr. Christos Raptis, former General Secretary of the Salonica Labour Centre and the Salonica Bakery Workers' Union, and Mr. Panagiotis Afalis, former member of the executive of the said union, have been arrested and confined in the island of Aghios Efstratios, and that Messrs. Melaniphidis and Betjounis were-together with other trade union militants whose names are not given-arrested on 2 November 1958 and are still in prison.
3. 141. Further, it is alleged that Mr. Christos Paraskewaides, General Secretary of the Mytilene Machinists' Union, was removed from his union office by a decision of the Prefect of Lesbos, the text of which is furnished by the complainants.
4. 142. In its first reply, dated 15 February 1959, the Government declares that trade unionism is free in Greece, both in law and in practice. In particular the principle of freedom of association is embodied in the national Constitution. The Government adds nevertheless that, because of the activities undertaken by the Communists after the end of the Second World War, it was compelled to declare the Communist Party outlawed and to take other measures for the security of the State, the régime, public order and the citizens (Law No. 509 of 1947). These measures, declares the Government, are general in scope and apply to anyone acting against the nation irrespective of any consideration and, in particular, of whether or not be is a trade unionist.
5. 143. In this connection the Government declares that the persons mentioned by the complainants were proceeded against because they had rendered themselves guilty of acts committed against the State. On this subject, in its communication of 13 February 1959, the Government gives the following information.
6. 144. Mr. Mitrogogos was deported in 1948 by reason of his anarchist activities. He was liberated in 1952 but since then has not ceased his anti-national activities. For this reason, recently, he was again deported as dangerous to national security.
7. 145. During the Communist Revolution Mr. Repelas was a member of O.P.L.A, the executive organ of the illegal Communist Party. From 1947 to 1950 he was mobilised in the army, but his conduct was very bad. He was deported once, then was liberated, and then devoted himself to the creation of secret Communist groups, for which he was again deported.
8. 146. Under the name of " The People's Avenger ", Mr. Missios was a member in 1947 of a clandestine organisation in which he carried out fanatically all kinds of illegal and anti-national activities. His case was brought before the provisional court martial and he was condemned to death. Subsequently this sentence was commuted to five years' imprisonment. He was liberated in 1953 and undertook the formation of clandestine Communist groups among the students at Salonica University. Because of - this final anti-national activity he was recently deported.
9. 147. Messrs. Melaniphidis and Betjounis both carried out intensive anti-national activity. The former, deported in 1946, was liberated in 1947. The latter was sentenced in 1946 by the provisional court martial to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment and three years' deportation. After the liberation the two persons in question continued their illegal activities. On 3 November 1958 they were arrested and brought before the Salonica Public Prosecutor, accused of violation of Law No. 509 of 1947. The accusation related to the fact that they had organised a clandestine meeting, the purpose of which was to convert 30 young people to the illegal Communist Party and to give them instructions on behalf of that party.
10. 148. Finally, the Government declares in its communication dated 13 February 1959, Mr. Danielides was recently deported because he was regarded as constituting a danger to national security.
11. 149. Accordingly, the Government declares, it was in respect of illegal activities directed against the security of the State and not because of their trade union activities that the persons referred to above were the subject of the measures which were taken. The proof of this, in the view of the Government, is the fact that the trade union organisations to which the persons in question belonged continue to operate in full freedom.
12. 150. When the Committee had before it at its 21st Session (Geneva, February 1959) the complaint and the Government's observations, it took the view that further information would be necessary before it could reach conclusions in full knowledge of all the circumstances. Accordingly, by a letter dated 12 March 1959, the Director-General, on behalf of the Committee, requested the Government to furnish more detailed information as to the reasons which gave rise to the deportation of Mr. Danielides, as to the authorities which ordered the taking of the measures complained against in the cases mentioned by name in the observations of the Government, as to the procedure followed in the matter and as to the guarantees accompanying such procedure; having noted also that the Government's communication of 15 February 1959 contained no information in respect of Messrs. Papavassiliou, Raptis and Afalis, mentioned in the complaint as having been deported, or in respect of Mr. Paraskewaides, a trade union leader mentioned by the complainants as having been removed from his trade union office by decision of the Prefect, the Committee asked the Director-General to request the Government to be good enough to furnish its observations on these various allegations.
13. 151. The Government forwarded its reply by a communication dated 13 April 1959.
14. 152. According to this reply, Legislative Decree No. 19/21 of 1924, as amended by Act No. 41 of 7 August 1946, provides for the deportation of any individual committing acts contrary to law and to public order and to national security. Accordingly, section 1 of the above Act of 1946 provides for the setting up in the capital town of each province of a Public Security Committee of First Instance, consisting of the Prefect as Chairman, and the Coroner of the Court of First Instance, the competent Chief of Gendarmerie or Police Director acting as Reporter without the right to vote. The Act provides that the persons concerned may appeal against decisions of the Committee of First Instance to a Committee of Second Instance; by virtue of section 3 of the Act the latter Committee is composed of the Prefect, as Chairman, and the Coroner of the Court of Appeal.
15. 153. The Government declares that this procedure was followed in the cases mentioned by the complainants, including those of Messrs. Danielides, Papavassiliou, Raptis and Afalis, concerning whom it gives the following details.
16. 154. Mr. Danielides was deported, following a proposal of the police authority of his place of residence, due to the fact that he was engaging in activities contrary to national security. However, after he had given his promise to live a law-abiding life in future he was set free, his deportation having been cancelled.
17. 155. Messrs. Papavassiliou, Raptis and Afalis were deported, following a proposal of the police authorities, by decision of the Public Security Committees, because they had been guilty of acts contrary to national security.
18. 156. With respect to the case of Mr. Paraskewaides, the Government declares that by virtue of sections 32 and 33 of the Trade Unions Act, No. 281 of 1914, the responsible authority, that is, the Ministry of Labour or the Prefects of the various towns, in the event of irregularities being ascertained, may depose a trade union executive and establish an administrative and auditing committee. They are obliged, however, to convene a special assembly with a view to electing a new executive committee. The Council of State and the Legal Council of the State have declared that the powers described above could also be utilised in the event of the executive committee of a trade union having transformed the occupational organisation into a propaganda centre for a political party or into headquarters for carrying on anti-national activities.
19. 157. The Government declares that it was by virtue of the provisions described above that Mr. Paraskewaides was removed from his trade union office, because he had used it for anti-national purposes.
20. 158. In its first report the Committee formulated certain principles in respect of the examination of complaints which the Government concerned regards as purely political in character. The Committee decided, in accordance with the general principles adopted by the Governing Body, on the proposal of its Officers, that, although a case may be political in origin or present political aspects, it should be examined in substance if it raises questions directly affecting the exercise of trade union rights.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 159. In several earlier cases, the Committee has been called upon to give a decision on the application of measures which, although of a political nature and not intended to restrict trade union rights as such, might nevertheless affect the exercise of such rights. In the present case, as the persons affected by the measures complained against were trade union leaders, it is necessary for the Committee to examine the matter.
2. 160. Moreover, in the past, when the Committee has had to examine allegations relating to the prosecution of trade union officials and active trade unionists, it has considered that the only question to be answered was the real reason for the arrests or trials. Only if these were ordered by reason of the trade union activities of the arrested persons had a violation of association occurred.
3. 161. In the cases of Messrs. Mitrogogos, Repelas, Missios, Melaniphidis and Betjounis, it would appear from the precise information furnished by the Government that the measures taken were not connected with their trade union activities but were occasioned by the illegal political activities referred to by the Government.
4. 162. This would also appear to be the case with regard to Messrs. Papavassiliou, Raptis, Afalis and Danielides, although in the cases of these persons the Government furnishes information which is less precise than that given in connection with the cases referred to earlier. The Committee observes, however, that according to the Government the deportation ordered in the case of Mr. Danielides was revoked and the person concerned is again at liberty.
5. 163. With respect to the procedure followed in connection with the measures taken against the persons mentioned in the complaint, which is described in paragraph 152 above, dealing with the functioning of Public Security Committees, the Committee has already been called upon to consider these committees in its examination of earlier cases relating to Greece.
6. 164. The Committee then took the view that, in so far as the Public Security Committees had been instituted for exclusively political purposes, it was not competent to express a view with respect either to their institution or to the procedure followed in cases before them, under which persons might be deported for having committed acts contrary to public peace or public order or to the safety of the State.
7. 165. However, the Committee wishes to point out once again that, in all the cases in which it has been alleged that trade unionists had been the subject of measures or decisions emanating from bodies of a special nature, it has always emphasised the importance which it attaches to the principle that trade unionists, like all other persons, should enjoy the guarantees of due legal process. Having regard to their composition, the Public Security Committees are administrative instances and, while it is true that a right of appeal exists, such appeal can be brought only before a further administrative instance. In these circumstances, the Committee considers that it is improbable that the system described by the Government is accompanied by appropriate judicial guarantees and recommends the Governing Body to draw the attention of the Greek Government to this point in order that it may envisage the possibility of introducing reforms.
8. 166. Speaking more generally, the Committee, following its decision in an earlier case, and while recognising that the procedure described above may have had its origin in the gravely disturbed situation which prevailed in Greece in the years following the liberation, recommends the Governing Body to draw the attention of the Government, now that over ten years have elapsed since the system was instituted, to the desirability of considering whether the moment has not arrived when the Government might give consideration to the question whether it is still necessary to continue the application of exceptional procedures which, potentially, entail the danger of restrictions being placed on the free exercise of trade union rights.
9. 167. With respect to the case of Mr. Paraskewaides, it would appear once again that the removal of the person concerned from his trade union office had its origin in the fact that he had used his position in order to pursue illegal political aims and was not the result of his trade union activities.
10. 168. However, in this particular case also, the Committee considers that the procedure followed may give rise to abuses, the removal from office having been effected by decision of a Prefect, and that measures of this kind may infringe the generally recognised right of workers' organisations to elect their representatives in full freedom and to organise their administration and activities. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to draw the attention of the Government to the desirability of amending this procedure and of providing the necessary safeguards to ensure that it shall not be utilised in such a manner as to infringe the free exercise of trade union rights and to the importance which it attaches to trade unions being able to elect their representatives in freedom and to organise their administration and activities.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 169. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to affirm the importance which it attaches to the principle that trade unionists, like all other persons, should enjoy the guarantees of due legal process ; to express its view, in this connection, that it is improbable that the procedure followed by the Public Security Committees is accompanied by appropriate judicial guarantees ; and to draw the attention of the Greek Government to this point in order that it may envisage the possibility of introducing reforms in the present system ;
   • (b) more generally, while recognising that the procedure referred to in the preceding subparagraph may have had its origin in the gravely disturbed situation which prevailed in Greece in the years following the liberation, to draw the attention of the Government, now that over ten years have elapsed since the system was instituted, to the desirability of considering whether the moment has not arrived when the Government might give consideration to the question whether it is still necessary to continue the application of exceptional procedures which, potentially, entail the danger of restrictions being placed on the free exercise of trade union rights ;
   • (c) to affirm the importance which it attaches to trade unions being able to elect their representatives in freedom and to organise their administration and activities, to express its view in this connection that the powers given to the Prefects to remove trade union executive committees and to depose trade union leaders from their trade union office, by reason of their political activities, may give rise to abuse, and, therefore, to draw the attention of the Government to the desirability of amending this procedure and of providing the necessary safeguards to ensure that it shall not be utilised in such a manner as to infringe the free exercise of trade union rights.