Crocodile tears

Just a few hours after Council of State judges in Athens issued a statement concerning an attack by the Rouvikonas anti-establishment group on the Athens premises of the country's highest administrative court, judges at a misdemeanors court in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, released three of the men who attacked the city's mayor, Yiannis Boutaris, last weekend.

You may wonder what these two events have in common, so let's take it from the top: In Athens, the Council of State judges stated that "vacuums created by the weakening of democratic institutions, among which is the justice system, are filled by raw violence that is reminiscent of primitive societies." In Thessaloniki, the two 20-year-old attackers received suspended sentences of 14 and 21 months, while the 36-year-old was given a 14-month prison term that he can buy off for a fee of 5 euros a day because he has no...