SYRIZA & Public Order Minister Disagree Over Prison Reform

As widely reported, SYRIZA and Public Order Minister Haralambos Athanasiou did not get along during the meetings prior to the voting, that held 52 "yes" votes ands 48 "no" votes from 100 Parliamentary members during its summer session.

The Public Order Minister accused the political party of gaining passes for family members of Conspiracy of Cells criminals, to observe the act. As reported by ekathimerini, Athanasiou stated to SYRIZA: "Your only purpose is to make an impression, without any content and without any respect for the relatives of the inmates".

The party's MP Thodoris Dritsas replied, "You should be the guarantor of the right of the parents to sit in on the discussion of a bill that concerns them... what kind of democracy is this?"

Athanasiou also blamed SYRIZA for having compassion with the Conspiracy of Cells, while Dristsas shot down the claims. The Minister stated, "If terrorism has been wiped out decades ago in Italy, Germany and France it is because there even the leftist parties condemned it".

The Minister also declared that SYRIZA made judgments about the new prison bill's maximum security cells without studying its particulars. He described, "Anyone who knows anything about the 'white cells' that once existed in Germany and Turkey, also knows that they meant constant solitary confinement, no visitations or communications and constant pressure...What does this have to do with establishing a level of security equal to that in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the Scandinavian countries, whose laws were factored into the drafting of the bill?"

(Source: ekathimerini.com)