People wronged by justice to be able to seek damages

The Justice Ministry is drafting a bill that, for the first time, will allow individuals to claim damages from the wrongful administration of justice. It took a particular case and two condemnations from the European Court of Human Rights for the state to take this step.

Ioannis Zoumboulidis, a contractor working at Greece’s embassy in Germany, had asked for a raise in the special allowance he received for employment abroad. This was denied by the administration and Greek courts on the basis of increasingly dubious requirements: first, the state claimed that only permanent employees could get the allowance. The Council of State ruled that he could not appeal a lower court verdict because he did not state the number and age of his children and the terms of his contract.

The Court of Human Rights ruled twice, in 2001 and 2024, for Zoumboulidis and fined Greece a total of €10,000.