Greek Women Fight For ‘Right To The Truth’ Over Abuse And Violence

When Elli was sexually assaulted by her older brother when she was 11, the young Greek girl had a stark decision to make in a country where a patriarchal culture still dominates.

"I had to choose between my family and my right to the truth. I chose the latter," she said.

"And I never regretted it," the social worker, now 33 and a specialist in domestic violence, told AFP.

The #MeToo movement in the US sparked by the Harvey Weinstein case arrived very belatedly in the Mediterranean country in 2021, when Olympic gold medalist Sofia Bekatorou accused a sailing federation official of rape.

But in March this year Greece introduced a smartphone panic button application for women facing violence at home.

And calls are growing for more efforts within families and in schools to stamp out violence against women and macho attitudes.

Elli -- who asked AFP to change her real name -- was abused over a one-year period.

Her brother was 19 at the time, eight years her senior.

Years of suicide attempts, depression, panic attacks and episodes of self-mutilation ensued.

- Pressured into silence -

Telling no one, she moved away from her home to attend university.

But at the end of her studies in 2014, when her parents asked her to move back with them and her brother, she suffered a breakdown.

"I felt enormous pressure, and there was nothing I could do. I could hear my brother's voice, and kept seeing him in the faces of people on the street," she said.

When she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital, Elli said she became "the crazy one in the family".

In 2016, she made her first suicide attempt. When at last she decided to tell her parents, her mother was furious with her.

"Do you want to harm our family? Do you want to send your brother to prison?" Elli recalled her saying.

When she went to the police to denounce her brother, she was told that the abuse had happened too long ago and was discouraged from filing a complaint.

But in 2018, when she learned that her brother's wife was expecting a baby, she knew she had to act.

She lodged her complaint just four days before the 15-year statute of limitations on child abuse was due to expire.

- 'Feeling guilty' -

"I wanted to hear (in front of a court) that he was guilty," Elli said. "Until that moment, I was the one feeling guilty."

In court, her mother defended Elli's brother, as did most of her relatives.

In 2020, he was handed a suspended three-year sentence. Two years later, an appeals court gave him another three years. That sentence was also suspended.

Once in court, Elli said she "no longer felt different, or alone."

She had the support of sailing champion Bekatorou and around 30 other women.

But much remains to be done.

"Mouths have opened but ears remain shut in our patriarchal society," Elli said.

"Some people still believe that the body of their daughter, sister or wife belongs to them," she said.

Since the start of this year, 15 women have died at the hands of partners or ex-partners.

In one shocking case, a woman was killed in April outside an Athens police station after going with a friend to seek help over her ex-partner who was stalking her.

Abuse cases surface almost every week.

In November, a police officer guarding parliament was detained after his wife accused him of abusing her and their children.

In June, a prominent attorney was arrested for beating his wife in their car.

Lawyers say that while the number of cases in the country may not have increased dramatically in recent years, violence against women is more openly discussed than previously.
-AFP