Greek Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Journalists Reporting Surveillance Scandal
Source: Balkan Insight
The Court of First Instance of Athens on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that the former director of the prime minister’s office, Grigoris Dimitriadis, who is also the nephew of the premier, filed against the Greek newspaper EFSYN, the investigative media outlet Reporters United and the journalist Thanasis Koukakis, who was monitored by the illegal spyware Predator.
The lawsuit has been widely described as a SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
Dimitriadis accused them of moral damage over their investigation that detailed his alleged business links with people directly or indirectly connected to companies that market the Predator spyware in Greece.
The court ruled that the media and journalists had no intention of harming Dimiriadis’s honour and reputation and that their investigations did not contain libelous or false content against him.
“From the beginning, we believed in our investigation; everything was documented, so we saw the court as an opportunity to strengthen our arguments. The fact that the court rejected the lawsuit is a vindication for us to continue our research,” Thodoris Chondrogiannos, a journalist at Reporters United, told BIRN.
Dimitriadis sought 250,000 euros in compensation from EFSYN, 150,000 euros from Reporters United and its journalists, and wanted Koukakis to take down posts he shared on social media of the investigation and pay damages of 150,000 euros. The total amount claimed was 550,000 euros.
Following the journalistic revelations, he resigned in August 2022 and issued his first lawsuit against the media and journalists. In November 2023 he issued a new lawsuit against them.
The wiretapping scandal concerns the wiretapping or attempted surveillance using Predator of politicians, journalists, business people, and other individuals by the Greek intelligence services, EYP.
At the end of July, the Supreme Court cleared the EYP of wrongdoing. A debate has continued about whether the court’s investigation was sufficient and some of those targeted by Predator are considering taking their fight to the European Court of Human Rights.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
