Supreme court hears appeal on Kuneva acid attack

An appeals hearing regarding the case of the acid attack on SYRIZA MEP Constantina Kuneva was held Tuesday morning at Greece’s Supreme Court.

Kuneva, who was present at the supreme court for the hearing, fell victim to an acid attack by unknown assailants in 2008, when she was a labor union activist. A court of first instance had deemed the incident as being work-related accident and ordered her employer, a private cleaning firm, to pay Kuneva 250,0000 euros in compensation.

Last year, however, an appeals court overturned that ruling, saying there was no evidence to suggest the company was in any way culpable.

During Tuesday’s hearing at the supreme court, former justice minister Antonis Roupakiotis and labor law professor Aris Kazakos spoke on Kuneva’s behalf, arguing that the decision of an appeals court to absolve her former employer from any responsibility for the attack was wrong.

Kazakos said her employer was "aware of the telephone threats that Kuneva was receiving, and had a duty of care to avoid the mafia-style assault against her."

After the hearing, Kuneva said "I’ve learned to live with problems that I have but no one will learn to live with the unjust attacks on society.”