THE NICOSIA District Court has acquitted a senior civil servant who was accused of posting a Facebook video of his grandson, aged four at the time, sporting a toy gun and shouting fascist remarks.
Civil Defence deputy head Ioannis Avlonitis was accused of inciting racial hatred in 2010 when a video of his grandson made the news weeks after it had been posted online, showing a boy hold a toy gun while shouting, “we are fascists, we want to kill Turks and communists”.
Avlonitis was suspended in November 2010 and a number of investigations were launched into the video that received widespread attention by the media and the government.
Child commissioner Leda Koursoumba denounced the “egregious violations” of the child’s rights, former President Demetris Christofias even raised the issue in parliament, while social welfare, the police and civil defence all got involved.
But in a ruling this week, the court said that there was no testimony connecting Avlonitis to the video in question and no evidence that he was the one urging the boy to shout racist slogans.
Avlonitis, who remained suspended for more than two years, will be allowed back to work and will be paid his wages accrued during his absence, his lawyer Loucis Loucaides said. He added that Avlonitis was considering taking legal action against the government.
The court said that the prosecution did not manage to produce any witness who could say that they saw the video in question on Avlonitis’ personal Facebook profile “so that the court could have even circumstantial testimony that the accused was the one who prepared the film and uploaded it on his personal profile on the internet to share with friends”.
A witness said that they saw a banner writing “anticommunist” on Avlonitis’ Facebook profile and also a photograph of Avlonitis’ grandson holding a toy gun. The court said that raised a “strong suspicion” against Avlonitis “but that’s completely different to a direct testimony linking him to the film in question”.
“I do not think there is any testimony allowing me to come to the conclusion the accused did such a thing and indeed intentionally,” the court judge said.
But the judge said that in any case, the film did not incite racial hatred and violence because “no sane person would be incited to racial hatred or violence… by watching an innocent child that had a hard time speaking the particular words and (did) not know what they (meant)”.
“It is not just the words that matter but the context in which something is said,” the court added.
The judge said it was obvious that the child was playing, and “someone else taught him to say this nonsense”. No one would believe the child was fascist, but the video did cause “feelings of anger and revulsion to be formed against the person who taught him those specific words and phrases,” the court said.
The judge added, “the only message that the specific video transmits is sadness over the way some people treat their children”.