Greek prosecutor closes spyware scandal probe, infuriating opposition and victims
Source: POLITICO
Ensuing investigations by journalists, civil rights organizations and independent telecoms watchdog ADAE revealed that the Greek intelligence service had put a whole range of politicians — including half the Cabinet — as well as journalists under surveillance. At the same time, Predator was being planted on some phones by unknown perpetrators.
The government repeatedly dismissed allegations that PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis had ordered the country’s intelligence and security forces to spy on his opponents. Mitsotakis and his allies said “dirty networks” within the intelligence services were responsible for the scandal, but all intelligence officials seem to have been exonerated in Tuesday’s decision.
The prime minister’s chief of staff and the head of the Greek National Intelligence service both resigned amid Predatorgate. They were subpoenaed by judicial authorities to testify last month, but not as suspects.
Supreme Court prosecutors will only be charging four representatives from the companies that sold Predator in relation to the scandal; the alleged offences are only misdemeanors.
With a previous parliamentary investigation ending in stalemate and Tuesday’s ruling seemingly closing the books on a government inquiry, it appears the ringleaders may never be identified.
Global media watchdog Reporters sans frontières (RSF) said it “regrets” the prosecutor’s decision, while Androulakis, the first victim of the scandal to be revealed in public, said he would continue “to defend the rule of law with all our strength.”
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