Miris document ID: 1047997257930 Sotiri Bletsa case - Athens Court of the First Instance's Decision No 11263/2001 Author: Athens Court of the First Instance Language: English Translates: original document Source: Greek Helsinki Monitor Country: Greece Category: judgment/decision Government level: National - State Level Guiding principle: The Court ruled that the reference to the speaking of languages other than Greek constitutes a criminal offence under the Greek Penal Code. Mr. Bletsas was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 drachmas because he distributed an English-language publication from the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL), which, among other things, stated that in certain regions of Greece five other languages are spoken in addition to Greek. Date of judgement: 2001-2 Document number: 11263/2001 Official version: no Legally binding: yes Subject areas: administrative authorities; administrative boundaries; culture; demography; education; freedom of assembly; freedom of association; freedom of opinion; identity; language; media; official language; public use of language; right of association Minority groups: Aromanians/Vlachs Related laws: Penal Code get HTML document