Greece schocked by abuse scandal
In Greece, an entrepreneur has been accused of repeatedly raping and pimping a 12-year-old girl. The girl says she was forced to have sexual intercourse with several men in a brothel, among other things. The accused was a member of the ruling party Nea Dimokratia, and his company received orders from several ministries and authorities. The national press is shocked that all parties are denying they had any knowledge of what was going on.
Failure to provide assistance must be punished
Ta Nea criticises the attitude of the authorities and the victim's milieu:
“Unfortunately, society very often wants to have nothing to do with such cases. It sees no evil and hears no evil in order to avoid getting mixed up in such cases. Nevertheless, it is impermissible for the state and social services, which could have protected this child, to have turned the other way. In the case in Kolonos [the Athens district where the victim and the accused live], they did not do their duty, and it is not the first time. ... The protection of children is above any political objective or skirmish. A 12-year-old child was badly let down by those around her. These people will have to offer an accounting to the judiciary and deal with their guilt.”
Murderous apathy
Psychology professor Fotini Tsalikoglou and psychiatry professor Stelios Stylianidis comment in To Vima:
“The holy Greek family obscures and forgives the sins of its scoundrels and protects its demons. It is very hard to believe that no one knew anything. The culprit had fake Internet profiles, weapons in his home, a daily routine that was completely intertwined with his destructive passion, and engaged intensively in illegal activities. The cracks in his socially 'normality' were certainly there, but no one wanted to see them. ... Perhaps even more frightening than the individual psychopathology of the criminal is the murderous apathy of those who look on and then lament afterwards, like the chorus in an ancient tragedy.”