About 350 conscientious objectors to military service were imprisoned. All were prisoners of conscience. Legal proceedings continued against eight people prosecuted for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. There were further reports of torture and ill-treatment by police and prison officials. At least two men were shot dead by law enforcement officers in disputed circumstances. About 350 conscientious objectors to military service were imprisoned. All were prisoners of conscience. There is no alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors to military service, although they can halve their sentences by working in agricultural prisons. About 350 Jehovah's Witnesses were serving prison sentences of up to four years and eight months for their refusal to perform military service on religious grounds. In October Nikos Karanikas, a conscientious objector on philosophical and political grounds, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for "insubordination in a period of general mobilization". In December his sentence was reduced on appeal to one year's imprisonment, suspended for three years, and he was released. In June, 76 men who faced a second call-up to military service and possible imprisonment after having been released under a law aimed at reducing prison overcrowding (see Amnesty International Report 1995), were discharged from military obligations. Legal proceedings continued against seven people who had been prosecuted for criticizing government policies on ethnic minorities (see previous Amnesty International Reports). In November the trials of Michail Papadakis and of six members of the Organosi gia tin Anasingrotisi tou Kommounistikou Kommatos Elladas, Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Greece, were postponed until 1996. In November the trial of Archimandrite Nikodimos Tsarknias on a charge of "impersonating a priest" was postponed until January 1996. Since his expulsion from the Greek Orthodox Church in April 1992 for claiming to belong to the Macedonian minority in Greece, he had been tried repeatedly on similar charges. He attributed this harassment to his support for the recognition of a Macedonian minority in Greece. In September charges against Christos Sideropoulos were dropped on the grounds that they had expired. He had been prosecuted in 1993 for a statement in which he claimed that his cultural rights as a member of the Macedonian ethnic minority in Greece were being violated. There were further allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by police and prison officials. Nikolaos Gogos, an imprisoned Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector, lodged a complaint with the Athens Military Court. He stated that in March he was slapped, pushed violently, beaten with a belt and threatened with cigarette burns by two soldiers. An official inquiry was ordered into the case, but the results were not known by the end of the year. There were numerous reports of beatings in police custody. Athanasios Zayiakis was detained in October for possessing a small amount of heroin. When he appeared before the examining magistrate, she ruled that he was unfit to remain in detention and ordered his release. Photographs published subsequently in a newspaper showed severe bruising on his face, back and legs. An inquiry was ordered into the ill-treatment of Athanasios Zayiakis, but the result was not known at the end of the year. There were allegations of torture and ill-treatment in prisons. In August around 60 prisoners in Kerkyra prison reportedly refused to return to their cells following the third suicide attempt by an Albanian prisoner, Ali Kopliku, who had reportedly been repeatedly beaten by prison guards. There were reports that demonstrators were ill-treated by the anti-riot police, Monades Apokatastasis tis Taxis. In March demonstrating pensioners were attacked with tear-gas and truncheons when they breached a police line. Two were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties. Two police chiefs were reportedly suspended from duty for two and three months respectively for ordering the use of tear-gas, but it was not known whether any investigation into other allegations of ill-treatment took place. There were reports of shootings by police and military forces in circumstances which appeared to indicate unwarranted and excessive use of force. In March Greek border guards opened fire on four Albanian nationals about 15 kilometres inside Greece, killing Aristid Troska. Also in March Dimitris Nikolopoulos was shot dead by a prison guard while being returned to Tyrinths Prison from hospital following a suicide attempt. The guard claimed that Dimitris Nikolopoulos resisted being handcuffed and started to run. The guard then fired three warning shots, one of which hit Dimitris Nikolopoulos in the chest. No inquiry was known to have been opened into these killings. Amnesty International called on the authorities to release all imprisoned conscientious objectors to military service and to introduce legislation on conscientious objection which fully reflected international recommendations. The organization called on the authorities to drop the charges brought against Archimandrite Tsarknias for exercising his right to freedom of expression. Amnesty International expressed concern to the authorities about alleged torture and ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners and shootings by law enforcement officials in disputed circumstances. It urged them to investigate all such allegations impartially and to bring to justice those responsible.

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