INTERNATIONAL: A 32-year old mother in central Greece on Wednesday,January 19, was given a seven month prison sentence, has suspended for three years, and a 20 euro fine for not sending her 11-year old child to school since last year, due to the coronavirus.
The mother, who is not vaccinated, has mentioned outside the courthouse in Volos where she was sentenced that she was afraid of her child catching the pandemic. She also has a small child in kindergarten this year.
The mother says; "Because I am afraid to send my kids to school. I am not an anti-vaxxer, nor do I belong to some organization.I did not send my child last year," she said of her 11-year old child. "I took it some days, but then I heard cases were rising and I stopped. And this year I took the kids to school, and I stopped again because of alot of cases. I am just protecting the children."
As part of a government crackdown on parents refusing to send their children to school, the 32-year-old was summoned to the local police station five days ago and charged under a Greek law making school attendance compulsory. Under the amended law, parents face up to two years in jail and fines.
The mother has said she started sending both the children back to school on Tuesday.
"For my child I will go to jail I don't mind, as long as I can protect it," she said.
Besides refusing to send their children to school, cases have been reported of parents opposed to children having to wear masks at school or conduct self-tests. Anti-vaccine protesters have staged demonstrations in Greece in recent months over the government's decision to start vaccinations for young children, and over mandatory vaccinations imposed for health sector workers.
Vaccinations for children aged 5 to 12 years old have become available since December.
Greek schools have opened on schedule on January 10 with students required to test three times in the first week after the Christmas break, resulting in thousands of detected cases.
On Monday a fine was introduced for those over 60 that were not vaccinated.
