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| - One of Greece's top comedians was on Wednesday charged with sexual assault, a court source said, the latest case in a belated #MeToo awakening sparked by an Olympic medallist last year. Petros Filippidis, whose successful theatre and TV career spanned over three decades, has been accused by female colleagues of demanding sexual favours in return for help in landing roles. He was dropped in February from a comedy series aired by state broadcaster ERT after the allegations emerged. The 57-year-old denies the claims. Greece has in recent months been rocked by a wave of allegations of sexual abuse in the fields of arts, sport and education. In February the former artistic director of Greece's national theatre, Dimitris Lignadis, was charged with raping minors and jailed pending trial. More than three years after the #MeToo movement surfaced in the United States, Greece's code of silence was broken in December by a two-time Olympic sailing medallist, Sofia Bekatorou. Bekatorou said that when she was 21 she was subjected to "sexual harassment and abuse" by a senior federation member in his hotel room, shortly after trials for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In April, nearly two dozen Greek gymnasts alleged they had suffered decades of abuse and neglect "bordering on torture" at the hands of their coaches. jph/tgb
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