Car racer appeals seizure
As Attica traffic police vowed to step up their campaign against illegal car racers, one of the three men arrested at the start of the crackdown 10 days ago appealed against the confiscation of his vehicle. Under tough new sentences defended by Attica Traffic Police Chief Nikos Davillas, in an interview with Kathimerini, as necessary to eradicate a major threat to motorists, the cars of people found guilty of taking part in illegal races are impounded. But in an appeal to Supreme Court prosecutor Dimitris Linos, made public yesterday, one of the men already convicted, and given a 15-month suspended sentence, argued that the confiscation was unconstitutional and violated his human rights. Last week, Linos instructed prosecutors that there were no legal grounds for demanding the seizure of vehicles for racing, speeding or drunk-driving. Davillas argued that the mildness of the penalties provided in the highway code for illegal races forced police to seek confiscations by charging suspects with «disrupting transportation,» a criminal offense.
