A safe haven for abused children

On July 14, 2017, a court in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, convicted a woman and her boyfriend to a respective 40 and 47 years in prison for the rape and torture of the former's two children.
The boys, today aged 13 and 15, had spoken in detail to social workers and psychologists of the abuse they suffered from 2011 to 2014 at the hands of their guardians: burns with cigarettes and hot oil, being locked in the basement, systematic rape... The court threw the book at the defendants, acknowledging no extenuating circumstances.
For Aristotelis Sidiropoulos, who was sitting in the public gallery that day, the verdict offered some consolation; it was a small victory. The retired architect and president of the Veria-based organization "Initiative for the Child," which helps young victims of abuse, had kept a close eye on this particular trial.
"We see every case through...