MIGRASYL

News on migration and asylum from around the region - Nouvelles de la région sur les questions de migration et d'asile

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

[Cyprus] 3533 Independent Media - “Fascist grandpa” appointed chief of Syrian refugee camp

2 January 2015

Ioannis Avlonitis, the deputy commander of the Civil Defence Force, was appointed chief of an emergencies camp in Kokkinotrimithia, that currently hosts refugees from the Middle East (mainly from Syria and Palestine) which were stranded in Cyprus after their escape trip to Europe met extreme weather conditions. 

Avlonitis made headlines almost 5 years ago, when he posted on Facebook a video of him indoctrinating his then-3 years old grandchild in ‘being a fascist’, ‘killing Turks and communists’, and recognising the symbols of the Greek Military Dictatorship (1967-1974), while holding a toy gun. 

The case was investigated after receiving attention from the left-wing government at the time, but the deputy commander was acquitted from any charges in 2013, as the video ‘only creates feelings of pity towards the child, and does not motivate racial hatred’, and that it couldn’t be sufficiently linked to Avlonitis, the person who uploaded it on Facebook. 

This person was now tasked to guarantee safety to the refugees in Kokkinotrimithia, who recently lost a member (and key-witness against the human traffickers). 


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