Sotiris Bletsas (; ) is an architect and

Aromanian language The Aromanian language (, , , , , or , , ), also known as Vlach or Macedo-Romanian, is an Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance language, similar to Megleno-Romanian language, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian an ...

activist from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. In 1995, at an Aromanian festival in Greece, he distributed some

European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages The European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL) was a non-governmental organisation that was set up to promote linguistic diversity and languages. It was founded in 1982 and discontinued in 2010. The organisation had close ties with both the ...

(EBLUL) material about minority languages in Greece.A protest of the Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians outlining the details of Bletsas' arrest and conviction (in French

In 2001, on an initiative of the Hellenic Parliament, MP for

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

Evgenios Haïtidis, he was charged with "dissemination of false information" (contrary to article 191 of the Greek Penal Code) who reportedly was supported by the leadership of the Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs. The case drew protest from the Greek Helsinki Monitor and from abroad. He was first found guilty and sentenced to fifteen months in jail, suspended for three years, and fined 500,000

drachmas Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma, a modern Greek currency (1833...2002) * Cretan drachma, currency of the former Cretan State * Drachma proctocomys, moth species, the only species in the Genus '' ...

; however, he successfully appealed the decision and was subsequently found not guilty on 18 October 2001. Bletsas has held the position of director in the Greek branch of the EBLUL, established in January 2002, being among the several Aromanians to have done so.

References

Living people Greek people of Aromanian descent Aromanian nationalists Greek activists Language activists Minority rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) {{Europe-activist-stub

See also

References