A 53-year-old woman has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in Greece for lying about her elementary school record, in order to get a job as a cleaner.
The extremely harsh court ruling based on charges of defrauding the public, has caused major uproar in the country, Athens News Agency reports.
“This decision is not simply inhuman. It is another very indicative sign of permanent pathogens in the criminal justice system,” the Hellenic League for Human Rights said in a statement.
According to the indictment, the woman – who has not been named – altered the certificate to show she had completed six years of elementary school instead of five, a prerequisite to get hired as a cleaner and be able to support her family, as she stated.
Until even three decades ago many Greek children would drop out of school early, particularly in rural areas due to poverty. When compared to much lower sentences handed to more serious crimes by Greek courts, this sentence seems unreasonable.
She had since worked at a publicly-funded nursery for 15 years until a review in 2014 which revealed the certificate’s data were not all correct.
A senior prosecutor for the Supreme Court will review the legal reasoning of the regional court next week, judicial sources said.
