The Greek case was brought to the European Commission of Human Rights in September 1967. It alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the Greek junta, which had come to power in a coup and launched widespread political repression. A second case alleging additional violations, including of Article 3 forbidding torture, was added in 1968. In 1968 and 1969, a subcommission questioned witnesses and embarked on a fact-finding mission to Greece. Their report proving systematic torture was leaked to the press and turned European public opinion against Greece. On 12 December 1969, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe considered a resolution to expel Greece. To save face, foreign minister Panagiotis Pipinelis (pictured) denounced the ECHR and walked out. Greece returned to the organization after the Greek democratic transition in 1974. The case was influential as a precedent in human rights jurisprudence, especially for the legal definition of torture. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_case> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1863: American Civil War: Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville, leading to his death by pneumonia eight days later. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville> 1964: Vietnam War: An explosion caused by Viet Cong commandos led USNS Card to sink in the port of Saigon. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_USNS_Card> 2003: Spurred on by the Indian Union Muslim League, a mob of Indian Muslims killed eight Hindu fishermen in Kerala. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marad_massacre> 2011: Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 in a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: turn turtle: 1. (intransitive) Especially of a boat or ship, or some other vehicle: to turn upside down. 2. (intransitive, figuratively) To fail; to go belly up. 3. (intransitive, surfing) To roll upside down with one's surfboard (usually a longboard) to allow a wave, especially a wave that has already broken, to pass over. 4. (intransitive, historical) To capture a turtle by turning it on to its back. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turn_turtle> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:   Philosophy is properly Home-sickness; the wish to be everywhere at home.   --Novalis <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Novalis>