Case Of Irianna V.L.
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The case of Irianna V.L. involves the 2013 arrest, trial, conviction, and subsequent reactions surrounding
graduate student Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...
Irianna V.L.'s alleged involvement in the school shooting and ties with the
Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei (, abbrev. SPF), also translated as Conspiracy of Fire Cells or Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, is an anarchist urban guerrilla organization based in Greece. The SPF first surfaced in January 2008, with a wave of 11 f ...
. V.L. was eventually found innocent after appealing her conviction. The case gained significant attention due to V.L. being found guilty based on an insufficient DNA sample. Additionally, the court's consideration of V.L.'s social connections and activities, such as a trip to
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, a city known for its
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
presence, sparked controversy. V.L.'s initial 13-year sentence was met with skepticism, as it appeared to undermine the principle of
presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person Accused (law), accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilt (law), guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the Prosecut ...
.


Case

In 2011, the
Greek police The Hellenic Police (, ''Ellinikí Astynomía'', abbreviated ) is the national police service and one of the three security forces of Greece (the others being the Hellenic Fire Service and the Hellenic Coast Guard). It is a large agency with resp ...
surveilled a house of individuals with suspected links to the
Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei (, abbrev. SPF), also translated as Conspiracy of Fire Cells or Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, is an anarchist urban guerrilla organization based in Greece. The SPF first surfaced in January 2008, with a wave of 11 f ...
. Irianna V.L. visited this house, as its residents were friends of her boyfriend. After a police raid, V.L. gave a testimony to Greek police and volunteered a DNA sample. In November 2011, arms were found in Polytechnic School of Athens containing a small DNA sample. In 2013, V.L. was arrested on the basis of the two samples matching. The sample was so small, however, that it was exhausted in the first examination of the DNA, leaving none left for cross-examination to validate the results. This was below the minimum viable legal threshold. The mass of the DNA sample collected from the guns was lower than the required legal minimum. Because of false positive results in DNA matching, a 2008 European Ombudsman decision recommended that each sample be tested at least twice. In the sole tested sample, seven of 16 sequences matched. V.L. was found guilty at trial, based on the DNA sampling, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. She was released after a court of appeals acquitted her in 2018. The acceptance by the court of the DNA evidence has been widely criticized. Law philosophy professor Aristides Hatzis highlighted various police shortcomings regarding the DNA sampling, from collecting the sample to its interpretation, that should have led to the rejection of the DNA matching and a lack of conviction. Hatzis also claimed that V.L. was punished by the police and the court for having an affair and social relations with anarchists, a fundamental violation of the
rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
. Law professor Gregoris Kalfetzis also raised his concern on the handling and interpretation of the DNA sample and noticed parallels between V.L.'s case and the notorious Dreyfus affair, in which the judiciary decision was predetermined before the trial and the evidence was manipulated to fit the decision.


See also

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Anarchism in Greece Anarchism in Greece traces its roots to ancient Greece but was formed as a political movement during the 19th century. It was in the ancient era that the first libertarian thoughts appeared when philosophers based on rationality questioned the ...
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DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is cal ...


References

{{reflist 2013 in Greece 2013 in case law 2010s trials Anarchism in Greece Trials in Greece Wrongful convictions Anti-anarchism