Court clears gravediggers of insulting the dead

Three Thessaloniki cemetery workers accused of insulting the dead through negligence have been found not guilty by a court as the criminal code no longer deems the charge be an offense.

The case dates back to 2017, when the children of a woman who died three years previously presented themselves at a Thessaloniki cemetery for the exhumation.

Due to pressure of space, many families in Greece are forced to exhume the bodies of loved ones after three years and shift their bones to ossuaries. The exhumations are conducted by cemetery workers, in the presence of the next of kin.

When the grave of the woman in question was opened, the family saw that the coffin had been destroyed and the bones had been removed. Despite efforts to locate them, they were never recovered.

The family then took a lawsuit against the cemetery workers.

However, Thessaloniki Second Single-Member Misdemeanor Court acquitted the two men as the new criminal code has abolished the article of insulting a dead person. [AMNA]