Surveillance

At the same time, some politicians were left off the hook for the same offence, suffering no punishment at all.  

The uneven standards applied by the government, judiciary and police have drawn condemnation from both experts and activists. 

The Athens Traffic Police said on Monday that a "smart" traffic light system equipped with surveillance cameras to monitor pedestrians and motorists will soon be piloted in the Greek capital.

The exact location where the system will be installed was not revealed. The results of the pilot program will be evaluated in order to expand the measure throughout Attica.

Turkey's parliament has passed a bill enhancing the powers of "night watchmen," also known as neighborhood guards who will now have powers to stop and search people, carry guns and use force whenever necessary.

Amazon banned police use of its face-recognition technology for a year, making it the latest tech giant to step back from law-enforcement use of systems that have faced criticism for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin.

Nightclubs in China have mostly come back to life as owners and customers feel increasingly comfortable the novel coronavirus epidemic is under control, but disinfectant, disposable cups and masks have become part of the experience.

With the pact under threat, Turkey wants to see continuation of the Open Skies Treaty for global stability and security, the country's Foreign Ministry said on May 23. 

"The Open Skies Treaty, which Turkey is a party to, is one of the main pillars of Euro-Atlantic conventional security architecture," ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a written statement.

The Trump administration notified international partners on May 21 that it's pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other's territory overflights initially set up to promote trust and avert conflict between the U.S. and Russia.

Τhe Israeli Professor and intellectual Yuval Noah Harari is optimistic about the scientific developments in the battle against coronavirus yet at the same time expresses his concern for the digital technologies that are all of a sudden introduced in peoples' daily lives due to the pandemic.

Police are further tightening restrictions on movement today as Greek Orthodox Easter Week enters its final stretch, with the next three days deemed pivotal in Greece's so far successful battle to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the semi-democracies of the region, as lives moved from the public to the digital sphere, many freedoms were likewise suspended, while the burden of responsibility for violations fell on citizens as government imposed restrictions that in many cases flouted normal standards of human rights.