Arts, Censorship and the Greek Law: Blasphemy versus Hate Speech

The article discusses the Greek legal framework concerning artistic freedom and high-lights the discrepancy between international human rights standards and the Greekpractice as exemplified by a variety of incidents of censorship. Focusing on specificfeatures of the Greek constitution and the national laws on obscenity and hate speech,the article examines the practice of censorship on the grounds of either blasphemyor offence to public morals and national values. At the same time it underscores theexponential rise in hate crimes, including against artists, as exemplified by the murderof young rapper Fyssas in 2014. It argues that the practice of seizure of publications,along with the lack of effective legal framework that combats hate speech, have bothsignificantly contributed to raising self-censorship among artists and maintaining theculture of vexatious jurisdiction from which Greece suffers.