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Annons
Zoe Mavroudi: I hadn’t done anything similar before – this is my first documentary. I felt like this was the only way to get the story out in a striking way. I didn’t think any written piece would do it justice; there had to be a visual recording of what really happened.Can you recall the public's reaction last year, when the story first broke?
At the time, there was a poll showing that 80 percent of the people agreed with the government's actions. That was a horrible act of propaganda; they asked an audience of misinformed and surprised people to weigh in. In the film, you see these women speaking honestly and coherently. I feel it's helped them regain some ground, to reclaim their story.
Annons
Yes. One person approached me saying, “I had made up my mind at the time, but now I don’t think that what they did was right.” And it doesn't mean that these people belong to the far right or anything like that. It was people who would normally be "on our side", who had been convinced by the state’s propaganda.I don’t think it’s just that we show facts that go against government spin that makes people re-think the case, either. It's not just the arrests and the charges of prostitution that collapsed, as only one woman was found to be a sex worker in the end. It’s that people don’t realise the consequences of such actions. That these women were shamed and pretty much tortured during the process can’t leave you unaffected.
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HIV is not the biggest issue in Greece at the moment. We are all potential victims of a flatlining health system. Cancer treatment is becoming impossible, other infectious diseases, drug addiction, so many things. Friends who work with drug rehabilitation centres told me that looking at their paperwork, they keep seeing people falling back into drugs.And what about the women themselves?
The fact that some of them were found innocent, after being held in prison in abhorrent conditions, doesn’t necessarily mean it's over for them. They weren’t aware of the shaming taking place outside, and that now contributes to their fears. Even after they were released – and the case made headlines – one of them told me she wasn’t able to get disability benefits. It looks like the state believes that you’re not entitled to any compensation for being shamed and thrown in jail for ten months.
Annons
I hope they will get awarded some compensation. I don’t know if anyone will be punished. That would be a first for Greece’s legal history. But this is a unique case already. Eleven of the women and four NGOs are suing the organisation that carried out the operation. Some of the NGOs were funded by that organisation in the past. This has never happened before.I hope this sets a new paradigm for how we deal with cases of human rights violations. I hope the publicity the state chose to give this case will come back to haunt them. They turned it into a witch-hunt, and they tried to make an example out of these women. I hope the European Court of Human Rights now makes an example of them.Ruins premiered in London on the 18th of October, and screenings all around Britain and elsewhere in Europe will follow.Follow Ruins on Twitter: @Ruins_Doc More Greek misery: 'They Are Filth': Greece's Immigrants Are Pretty Thrilled About the Golden Dawn ArrestsA Golden Dawn Member Murdered an Anti-Fascist Rapper In AthensWATCH - SISA: Cocaine of the Poor