Greece’s Parliament approved, by majority vote, a key amendment from the Ministry of Justice that sharply tightens the rules on prison releases. The new rule raises the minimum time an inmate must actually serve, from 25 to 30 years, before someone serving multiple life sentences can apply for conditional release.

The amendment passed with votes from New Democracy and PASOK-KINAL. SYRIZA and the KKE voted against it, while Greek Solution and Niki chose to abstain.

Splitting crimes by severity

With the amendment’s approval, the conditions under Article 105B of the Penal Code change substantially. In practice, convicts are now split into categories based on the severity of their crimes.

For ordinary offenses: an inmate must remain in prison for 2/5 of their sentence, not counting time credited for work, or for 16 years if serving a single life sentence.

For serious crimes, including terrorism, organized crime, homicide, drug trafficking, human smuggling, forest arson, robbery, rape, and crimes against minors, the rules become far stricter. The convict must actually serve 3/5 of their sentence. If serving a single life sentence, they must remain in prison for at least 18 years.

If there are additional fixed-term sentences on top of that, the minimum rises by a third of those sentences, with a cap of 20 years of actual time served for a life sentence combined with fixed terms.

The 30-year threshold for multiple life sentences

The major, pivotal change applies specifically to those serving more than one life sentence. For them, the minimum time that must actually be served before release can be considered has now been permanently raised from 25 to 30 years, with no credit given for work performed in prison. For those serving very long fixed-term sentences for serious crimes, release can only be considered after 17 years of actual imprisonment.

According to the accompanying report, the ministry’s goal is to create a fair scale of penalties that reflects how seriously society views these crimes.

SLAPP lawsuit bill becomes law

In the same session, Parliament also passed, by majority vote, the Ministry of Justice bill on protections against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, known as SLAPP suits, transposing EU Directive 2024/1069 into Greek law. Only New Democracy voted in favor of the bill’s general principle, while every opposition party voted against it.