On Friday, September 1, 2023, Kostas Manioudakis died at a police checkpoint. Press reports initially said that the man approaching a police checkpoint suddenly lost consciousness and suffered a cardiac arrest (see among others 1, 2, 3).
However, Mr Manioudakis’ son and brother subsequently complained that the man’s death was caused by police violence, alleging that he collapsed following a severe beating.
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In a state governed by the rule of law, the police authorities must be governed by certain principles, including the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition of the abuse of police power and the respect for and protection of human rights.
The powers of the police authorities and the conduct to be displayed by them in the performance of their duties are regulated, inter alia, by Presidential Decrees 538/1989, 141/1991 and 254/2004.
Although the police may use force to enforce the law, this does not mean that all use of preventive or repressive force by the police is lawful. On the contrary, the arbitrary use of the power to use force and police action in excess of the legal limits is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.
The alleged behaviour of the police authorities in this particular case (i.e. the beating of Mr Manioudakis, which led to his death) does not seem to be in line with the requirements of the rule of law and seems to be outside the legal limits of police action.
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