According to the prosecution’s proposal, the discharge of the main defendant Ilias Michos, for the crime of rape and his guilt for the abuse of a minor in lewdness is proposed.

The prosecutor, although she accepted as true the testimony of the minor, in fact she did not accept what she denounced from the beginning, that Mihos repeatedly raped her in the basement of his shop in Kolonos, under the threat of weapons and knives.

The prosecutor did not see violence and threat, hence rape, despite the fact that she suggested that Mihos should be found guilty of gun possession.

Here, of course, we should note that, it was completely ignored that lack of consent has been legislated as an element of the objective nature of rape, without necessarily requiring physical violence. Moreover, the mere fact of being a minor, and therefore being legally incapable of giving consent, is the de facto basis for the offence of rape.

For the offence of pimping, the prosecutor saw nowhere any coercion of the 12-year-old girl by Mihos. Provocatively ignoring the web of fear and threats reported by the minor, she suggests that he be found not guilty of the offense of pimping by coercion, but guilty of facilitating the minor’s prostitution.

At the same time, she did not see any financial gain, despite the complaints and the message submitted in the trial according to which, the defendant asked her to “give him half the money”, a message that was considered by the prosecutor to be a … joke on his behalf.

Instead, she is proposing that the 12-year-old’s mother should be found guilty for aggravated pimping, despite the minor’s testimony that she had no involvement.

In a case like this, where the ability of our legal culture to protect children is being judged, a prosecutorial proposal that ignores the fact that absence of consent means rape and much more that being a minor means absence of consent, that turns a blind eye to the regime of terror and threats experienced by the girl and the unequal power relation with the accused due to age, vulnerability and poverty, can only severely undermine the State’s obligation to support and protect survivors of gender-based violence, especially minors.

We expect the court to rise to the occasion, sending a message of zero tolerance for child rapists and full support for victims.

We support the demonstration organized by the Solidarity Committee for the 12-year-old today, Thursday 14/3/24, at 7 pm at the Propylaea.