On 15-3-2023, a criminal trial was to be held in the courts of Volos against the three policemen accused of beating Vassilis Mangos in June 2020 (see more about the case of V. Mangos here). Reports and complaints published in the following days allege that police forces did not allow citizens to enter the court in order to attend the trial, and used chemicals and violence without proper justification, also beating Yiannis Mangos, the father of the victim (see among others 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
In a state governed by the rule of law, the action and functioning of 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 Decree 141/1991 and Decree 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 legal limits is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.
The behavior of the police forces on 15-3-2023 at the Volos courts (blocking the entrance to the courts and using chemicals and violence) seems, however, to be beyond the legal limits of police action.
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