Greece: Suspended sentence for racist remarks made to physician from Nigeria

A Greek court has handed down a suspended sentence of six months in prison, postponed for three years, against a patient who made a racist statement to a doctor of Nigerian origin. The Associated Press reports that the male patient verbally assaulted the female physician during his intake at a hospital to which he had been transported because of breathing difficulties  

The 57-year-old man from the northern town of Kozani behaved violently the moment he saw the 29-year-old doctor. He told her that she needed to be treated "by Hitler with soap", a reference to the production of detergents from the fat of those who were murdered in the Nazi concentration camps.

In court the man apologized for his remarks and claimed he had not been in his right mind when he made them. He was arrested by police after release from the hospital.

Greece has been undergoing economic collapse and racism is a significant social problem there, as the recent years have also seen large waves of immigration to the country. Several hundred thousand immigrants live in the country of 10 million.

The third-strongest party in the Greek Parliament is the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn. Dozens of members of its top management, including many MPs, now face charges of criminal conspiracy and are awaiting trial in custody.