- VICTIM SUPPORT
- THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF CRIME
- Victims right to understand and to be understood
- Right to receive information from the very first contact with the competent authority
- Victims’ rights when making a complaint
- Victims’ right to receive information about their case
- The right to translation
- The right to access victim support services
- Support from victim support services
- Right to safeguards in terms of restorative justice services
- Victims’ rights who reside in another EU member state
- Right to avoid contact between victim and offender
- Victim protection during the criminal investigation
- Protection of private life
- Individual assessment of victims- Special protection
- Right to protection of victims with special needs during criminal proceedings
- Rights of the witness of crime
- CRIMINAL COURT PROCEEDINGS
- WHO IS WHO IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
- I WAS A VICTIM OF CRIME: COMMON REACTIONS
The right to access victim support services
(according to Article 61 of Law 44782017)
For the first time in the Greek legal order, all victims of crime have the right to access general or special social and psychological support services before, during, and after criminal proceedings. The provision of these services is the responsibility of the State and these should be provided free of charge to victims of crime.
In particular, Article 61 of Law 4478/2017 provides for the following:
1. Victims, depending on their needs, shall be entitled to have access to free and confidential general or special support and care services, before, during, and for a reasonable period of time after the end of the criminal proceedings. This right may be extended to the victim’s relatives, depending on their needs and the seriousness of the harm they suffered as a result of the offence committed against the victim.
2. The Police or other competent authority to which the victim’s complaint has been lodged shall inform and refer the victim, at his or her request, to support and care services, depending on his or her needs and the seriousness of the harm suffered as a result of the offence.
3. Access to victim support and care services under this Regulation shall not be dependent on whether or not the offence has been duly reported.
4. General or specialized support and care services for victims are provided by the Police and any competent authority, as well as by public bodies such as, in particular, the social services of local authorities of the first and second degree, mental health structures for adults, children and adolescents, Ombudspersons, Community Centers, counselling centers of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality, support structures of the National Centre for Social Solidarity, specialized services for minor victims, such as the Independent Offices for Minor Victims of the Juvenile Probation Service and Probation Service for Adults of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, where they operate, as well as by legal persons governed by private law and associations of persons organized on a professional or voluntary basis, depending on the nature of the services.
5. The children of female victims of violations of personal and sexual freedom, financial exploitation of sexual life, domestic violence, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and racist crimes shall be entitled to the support and care measures provided for in this Article.
Definition “Victim Support and Care Services”
Victim support and care services refer to public service as well as non-governmental organizations that provide general or special support and care services.
(Law 4478/2017, Part Four, Article 1, par. 1d)