Accused of a crime against sexual freedom? This is brutal territory. Anyone suspected or accused of a sexual offence (a “sex crime”) faces utter social ruin and, under the current Greek Criminal Code, the immediate risk of prison. There is no room here for theoretical analysis — only for straight answers about whether your life is going to be destroyed tomorrow morning. Your first enemy is not the court; it is panic. You will not get a sermon here. You will learn what you are up against, what really decides a case, and why the first 48 hours matter more than anything else. I know exactly how the process works, and I will not sugar-coat it with false hope.
Summary
Crimes against sexual freedom are a category of offences that, beyond the penalties, threaten your very existence: your liberty, your name, your family, your job. From rape to harassment, what they share is that they are often decided on two versions of the same story — and the outcome turns on consent, credibility and how quickly you react. With discretion and a level-headed analysis of the evidence, the defence does not judge; it examines.
Contents
- She’s accusing me of rape, but it was consensual — how do I prove there was consent?
- My DNA was found on her or on her clothes — does that mean I’m convicted?
- She’s filed a complaint against me — should I hide until the in-the-act window passes? What do I do in the first 48 hours?
- I’m accused of something that happened years ago — can I be convicted without fresh evidence?
- I sent nude photos or crude comments in a chat — is that a criminal offence?
- If I’m convicted of a sexual offence, will I go to prison or get a suspended sentence?
- Someone reported me — does that mean I’m already guilty?
- Sexual offences: what exactly does the term cover?
- There was no violence — how can they be talking about rape?
- A message, a touch, a comment — when does it become “harassment”?
- At work: they say I harassed a colleague — where do I stand?
- A charge involving a minor — how serious is it?
- Paid sex: who actually gets prosecuted?
- Which article of the Greek Criminal Code applies to me?
Frequently asked questions — crimes against sexual freedom
Answers that combine realism and technical expertise — no sermons, no false hope.
She’s accusing me of rape, but it was consensual — how do I prove there was consent?
In sexual-offence cases the justice system now tends to believe the victim, unless you have rock-solid proof to the contrary. “Your word against hers” is a recipe for conviction. We must IMMEDIATELY secure digital evidence: messages before and after the act (Viber, Instagram, WhatsApp) that show intimacy, witnesses who saw you together that night, footage from security cameras. If you delete the messages out of fear, you have thrown away your only weapon.
→ Read in detail: Rape
My DNA was found on her or on her clothes — does that mean I’m convicted?
No. DNA proves only contact; it does not prove force. But if you deny contact from the outset and the DNA disproves you, the investigating judge will take you for a liar — and may well remand you in custody. If the contact was consensual, the defence line changes radically: we accept the contact and dismantle the element of coercion.
→ Read in detail: Defending Sexual Offence Charges in Court
She’s filed a complaint against me — should I hide until the in-the-act window passes? What do I do in the first 48 hours?
You give no statement without preparation. You do not contact the other party. You delete nothing. You preserve anything that could clear you — messages, locations, witnesses — and you speak to a lawyer before you do anything else.
The in-the-act (flagrante delicto) window lasts until midnight on the day after the act; if you are arrested within it, you are taken in handcuffs before the public prosecutor. Going into hiding is one tactic, but it does not make the charge disappear. The worst part? If you hide, the investigating judge can label you a “flight risk” and order your pre-trial detention until the trial. Use the 48-hour window not to vanish, but to prepare your defence.
→ Read in detail: Defending Sexual Offence Charges in Court
I’m accused of something that happened years ago — can I be convicted without fresh evidence?
Yes. Sexual offences carry a long limitation period, and if the victim was a minor at the time, the limitation period starts running only when they come of age. The fact that years have passed does not protect you. Without forensic-medical findings, the trial will rest on how the victim’s testimony is assessed and on witnesses. Here our job is to bring out any motives of revenge, financial ulterior motive, or inaccuracies in the complaint.
→ Read in detail: Child Sexual Abuse
I sent nude photos or crude comments in a chat — is that a criminal offence?
Yes. You can be prosecuted for an affront to sexual dignity or for sexual harassment. And if the person on the other side of the screen was — or claimed to be — a minor, you move automatically into soliciting a minor for sexual purposes (grooming), an act that can carry felony-level penalties. “I was just messing around online” is not a defence in court.
→ Read in detail: Sexual Harassment
→ See how it was decided in practice: the acquittal by the Athens Mixed Jury Court, 383/2022
If I’m convicted of a sexual offence, will I go to prison or get a suspended sentence?
Forget what you thought you knew about suspended sentences. With the recent changes to the Greek Criminal Code, suspending a sentence in sexual-offence cases — especially where there is violence or a minor is involved — is almost impossible. Even prison sentences are now served, in whole or in part, in an actual prison. Your real chance is twofold: to fight it out before the investigating judge so you stay free on restrictive conditions (bail, a ban on leaving the country) and then to fight for your full acquittal at trial — ultimately deploying every available legal remedy.
→ Read in detail: Sexual Offences in the Greek Criminal Code
Someone reported me — does that mean I’m already guilty?
No. Under Greek law you are presumed innocent until an irrevocable conviction. A complaint opens a process — it does not close it. But what you do from the very first moment often decides the outcome: which is why staying silent “so as not to make things worse” is almost always a mistake — and so is an improvised explanation.
→ In detail: Sexual Offences
→ Read in detail: Defending Sexual Offence Charges in Court
Sexual offences: what exactly does the term cover?
A broad spectrum — from rape and sexual abuse to the affront to sexual dignity and harassment. Each offence has different elements and a different degree of criminal gravity; the very way the act is classified is already a battleground.
→ In detail: Sexual Offences
→ Read in detail: Sexual Offences
There was no violence — how can they be talking about rape?
Because the law (Art. 336 GCC) no longer requires only violence or threat: rape can exist even without consent. But “consent” is not black and white — it is judged from the context, the behaviour, the communication. That is exactly where a case like this is built or falls apart.
→ In detail: Rape
→ Read in detail: Rape
A message, a touch, a comment — when does it become “harassment”?
The line is crossed by unwanted, repeated or offensive sexual conduct: words, gestures, messages. The same message can be innocent or punishable depending on the context, the relationship and what came before. The details are not fine print — they are the case.
→ In detail: Sexual Harassment
→ Read in detail: Sexual Harassment
At work: they say I harassed a colleague — where do I stand?
In the workplace a criminal dimension and an employment/disciplinary one coexist, often with witnesses and digital traces (emails, chat). A complaint like this threatens your liberty and your career at once — and demands handling on two fronts simultaneously.
→ In detail: Sexual Harassment by an Employer
→ Read in detail: Sexual Harassment by an Employer
A charge involving a minor — how serious is it?
It is one of the gravest charges our criminal system knows, with exceptionally harsh consequences from the pre-trial stage onwards. There is no room for delay or improvisation: it calls for immediate, level-headed and specialist defence from the very first minute.
→ In detail: Child Sexual Abuse
→ Read in detail: Child Sexual Abuse
Paid sex: who actually gets prosecuted?
The sex worker themselves is not prosecuted for the act; the law is aimed mainly at exploitation, procuring (pimping) and breaching the conditions of lawful practice. Who ends up in the dock is often misunderstood.
→ In detail: Prostitution
→ Read in detail: Prostitution
Which article of the Greek Criminal Code applies to me?
Most offences in this category are found in Articles 336 et seq. GCC, each with its own elements and sentencing range. Which article applies — and under what classification — is not a technicality: it radically changes your position.
→ In detail: Sexual Offences in the Greek Criminal Code
→ Read in detail: Sexual Offences in the Greek Criminal Code
Related topics — crimes against sexual freedom
Know the other side — the better you understand how it works, the less you fear it: Hellenic Police and Forensic Sciences Directorate.