Verification of Irena Gjoka/ The judge is vindicated, letter to the Supreme Court of Justice

2026-01-23 21:39:00, Aktualitet CNA

Verification of Irena Gjoka/ The judge is vindicated, letter to the Supreme

Judge of the Special Court, Irena Gjoka, has addressed a letter of justification to the High Judicial Council, where she has given the reasons why she did not declare in the decriminalization form a court decision taken against her in Greece.

Gjoka claims that she has not been officially notified of any legal proceedings in the Greek state, which according to her has made it impossible to react or appear in court.

According to the judge's claims, she learned the information about the Greek court's decision many years later, through documents forwarded by the Greek authorities through the General Prosecutor's Office.

According to the judge, the events are related to her ban on entering Greece in December 2002 and then in February 2003, measures which she considered unfair and arbitrary.

"On December 24, 2002, I, Irena Gjoka, presented myself at the Greek border crossing point, Kakavija, where the border police denied me entry into the Greek state (after a debate with the border police officer). I assessed that the Greek authorities had no reason to deny me entry into Greece and for this reason I was provided with another visa, at the Greek consulate in Albania. Subsequently, on February 13, 2003, I presented myself again at the border, where I was again denied entry, unjustly.

Since I was convinced of the illegality of the administrative measure taken against me, the refusal of entry into the Greek state, under the conditions when I had no right of entry into this state, on 31.03.2003, I authorized the citizen Andon Konomi/Ikonomou (this citizen did not have the capacity of a lawyer) to oppose on my behalf the administrative measure taken illegally and arbitrarily by the Greek authorities, at the Ministry of Public Order in Athens or any other institution, to carry out any type of action that is not prohibited by law, specifically related to the measure of entry ban issued against me.

Despite this fact, I have not personally been informed, either officially or in fact, of the administrative judicial process or any other process conducted against me in the Greek courts. After administrative or other decisions in my name have been published in the media, and not being aware of any decision, I have authorized a representative with a special power of attorney to obtain information about what was being published.

From the documents submitted to me by my representative and the documents forwarded by the Greek authorities by registered letter, through the General Prosecutor's Office, I have been informed for the first time about the decision taken by the Court of First Instance of Ioannina with no. 1447/2005, dated 07.06.2005, according to which I was convicted in absentia by this court on 07.06.2005, without the presence of a defense attorney, without being informed of the process against me, as during the investigation and trial of the case, for the offense provided for in paragraph 7 of article 54 of law 2910/2001 entitled "Entry and stay of foreigners in Greek Territory", with three months of imprisonment and a fine of 1500 Euros. The prison sentence has been converted into a fine of 4.4 Euros per day.

The decision of the three-member First Instance Court of Ioannina for the misdemeanor of 07.06.2005 was never notified to me and this decision has not become final. According to Article 473 of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure, the deadline for filing an appeal for defendants of unknown residence is 30 days from the date of notification of the decision (the decision which was never notified).

Before the appeal deadline expired, Law No. 3346/2005 “Acceleration of Procedures before Civil and Criminal Courts and Other Provisions” was adopted on 17.06.2005. According to the interpretation made by the ECHR, in the case of Panou v. Greece (no. 44058/05, 8 January 2009), the conviction decision archived under this law is considered null and void, provided that, for a period of 18 months from the publication of the law (17 June 2005), no other intentional criminal offense is committed, for which a final sentence of imprisonment exceeding six months would be imposed. According to the interpretation made by the ECHR, even though the right to appeal was lost, the effects of the law were equivalent to an acquittal.

"This was also the purpose of the law, which aimed to speed up criminal justice, among other things, by reducing the number of appeals for minor cases. Thus, in implementation of this law, the prosecutor has decided to archive the decision taken against me on 07.06.2005," reads, among other things, the letter from Judge Irena Gjoka.