FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2012 file photo, attorney Oleg Nikolishen speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Kiev, Ukraine. In January 2011, after heading to a police station to defend a client accused of car theft, Nikolishen was himself arrested and charged with his client's alleged crime. He spent most of the next two years in jail awaiting trial. In December 2012, he was released on bail for treatment of cancer he had developed in custody. Nikolishen claims his arrest was in retaliation for successfully defending clients in a country where prosecutors are used to getting their way. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov, File)
Order! Greek lawmakers fume at smoking colleagues
Published: 03:37:57 PM, Thu 07 February 2013 UTC
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers are fuming over colleagues who openly flout the country's anti-smoking laws in the very building where the statutes were passed.
A cross-party group of 88 representatives wrote to the Parliament speaker Thursday urging action against what they call a "pathetic and infuriating" state of affairs.
Greece has one of the European Union's highest smoking rates. It introduced a strict law in 2010 to outlaw smoking in enclosed public areas. Violators face €50-€500 ($68-$680) fines.
It was the third anti-smoking law passed in recent years, but has met with no noticeable success: People still light up freely in bars, cafes, restaurants — and Parliament.
The lawmakers wrote that, apart from assembly halls, at times there is "not a single square meter" in Parliament where the law isn't broken.
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