A court in the western Greek town of Messolonghi convicted three men for their role in a brutal racist attack on a Roma woman and her nephew two years ago.
The court also sentenced each of the four defendants on Tuesday to eight-month prison terms, suspended for three years. They were accused of causing serious bodily harm to Paraskevi Kokoni, the targeted Roma woman.
In October 2012, Kokoni and her nephew Kostas, who has a learning disability, were beaten by a group of local men in a violent attack while they were out shopping in the town of Etoliko, western Greece. Her 11-year-old son could only look on as they were punched, kicked and beaten with logs.
Paraskevi told Amnesty later that she was singled out as a relative of a local Roma leader. The attack took place amongst a series of vicious racist raids on Roma families in the same town between August 2012 and January 2013.
Prominent rights group Amnesty International and Greek Helsinki Monitor - the NGO that provided free legal representation to the victims - welcomed the convictions as a "first step towards justice."
"These convictions are only the first step to justice. Equally important is that the court now recognizes the racist motive behind this crime," said Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Amnesty International's expert on Greece, who observed the trial.
"This is an historic judgement as it is the first conviction in Greece for violence against Roma by individuals with reported links to Golden Dawn, particularly as it has been issued by a provincial court," said Panayote Dimitras, the Greek Helsinki Monitor spokesperson.
It is not clear from the court's verbal reasoning whether evidence of a racist motive was taken into account in sentencing the three individuals today for causing serious bodily harm. This will be revealed when the written judgment is released.
"The impact of this judgment for victims of hate crimes in Greece will be greatly reduced if the court - in its written judgment - does not acknowledge this racist attack for what it is," said Kosmopoulos.
Legal provisions aimed at combating hate crimes have been in place in Greece for several years. However, investigators frequently fail to examine possible racist motives and prosecutors rarely present such evidence in court.
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