Anthony Marreco and Amnesty International

For some years, Amnesty played a very important part in Anthony's life, and he played a number of different roles in the organisation. He was International Treasurer in the early 1970s, a delegate to Paraguay in the 1960s, and he often described himself as having been among the founders. But he spoke less about his most important contribution: leading Amnesty's investigation into the use of torture by the Greek Colonels after their coup in April 1967.

The investigation not only exposed the systematic use of torture, but also acted as a catalyst for the European Commission on Human Rights' own torture investigation - the first of its kind - which in turn led to Greece's enforced exit from the Council of Europe in 1970.

The story of Amnesty's Greek investigation starts in December 1967, when Anthony arrived in Athens with James Becket, an American lawyer, with the task of finding out who the political prisoners were, where they were held, and why they were detained. There had been reports of torture, but this was not yet the dominant moral, legal and political issue it would become.

Anthony was to deal with the Greek Government and James Becket was to gather information. It was a good division of labour. Anthony's Nuremburg experience focussed his legal skills, and also made him curious about the Greek leaders, while his political views - not to mention his membership of the Beefsteak Club - made it easy to deflect the charges of communism made by a defensive Greek government. Becket knew Greece well, was deeply committed to the prisoners and their families, and was a meticulous researcher.

They issued their findings on 27 January 1968 in a brief - and in its way a model - report. Sixteen people had told the delegation they had been tortured, and there were allegations concerning another 32 detainees. They concluded that torture was `deliberately and officially used', and was a 'widespread practice against Greek citizens suspected of active opposition'. An Appendix listed the responsible police organisations, the places and the individuals named by victims, twelve methods of physical torture, and six means of non physical torture. The report did not name the victims for fear of reprisals.

It concluded: 'Since, in Mr Pattakos's words, "the laws sleep", the police may arrest anyone, in any place, at any time, with no obligation to charge him or inform anyone of his arrest'.

Anthony then went to Strasbourg to present the report to the European governments who – with Greece - were members of the Council of Europe.

Two months later, he was invited to return to Greece, a surprising move probably thought up by the regime's foreign defenders to deal with mounting press coverage. In a dramatic scenario which he must certainly have enjoyed, Anthony was told on arrival at the airport that his name was on a black list, and that he was an 'unwelcome visitor'. He replied – and his voice is unmistakable - that 'this simply would not do'. He had been invited by the Minister of the Interior, Mr Pattakos, and he refused to leave. The British Consul brought food and blankets. Eventually Anthony prevailed. In another surprising twist, he was allowed not only to enter Greece, but also to inspect any prison and speak with any prisoner. He interviewed twelve prisoners, nine of whom said they had been tortured by falaka and electric shocks, and gave details of where this had taken place, and which officials had been responsible.

Amnesty's second report named these detainees, answering critics who disparaged the first report because it had not identified any torture victims. It also, and memorably, described Anthony's final meeting with Mr Pattakos. Anthony asked the Greek Government to order a public enquiry into the torture allegations, or to institute criminal proceedings. Pattakos flatly denied that any allegations of torture were true. In a heated closing exchange, Anthony warned that Greece risked expulsion from the Council of Europe unless the torture allegations were disproved.

Pattakos: "Let them throw us out".
Marreco: "Is that what you wish me to go back to London and say?".
Pattakos: "You force me to say it. The Greek Government has to protect itself against its communist enemies. A communist is not a Greek. We must put our own security first".

The Amnesty investigation had wide repercussions – for Greece and for the human rights movement. Soon after the second report, the Scandinavian and Dutch governments added torture to their case against Greece under the European Convention on Human Rights, and this in turn led to Greece's enforced withdrawal from the Council of Europe.

For Amnesty, then a young and inexperienced organisation, and for the equally untested human rights movement, the model of an NGO investigation which could influence government action – including in the UN - was to become a widely used technique for human rights groups in many countries.

Today, in hindsight, the major importance of the Greek investigation which Anthony led was perhaps the impetus it gave to the human rights campaign to end torture: by making it a national and international criminal offence and giving states the jurisdiction over acts of torture when the country where it had taken place did not prosecute. Despite some remarkable successes – including the international treaty under which General Pinochet was arrested in London - this task is today as urgent as it was in 1967.

Anthony's engagement with Greece continued and he was active in providing material support to detainees and their families.

Author: Stefanie Grant