The decision by the Supreme Court Prosecutor to keep the malodorous wiretapping case in the archive constitutes a black page for Greek justice, despite the fact that four separate requests had brought new elements of the scandal to light and had highlighted the need to retrieve the relevant case file. Using the same line of argument as his predecessor, Konstantinos Tzavellas, Prosecutor Evangelos Bakelas responded negatively both to the request of former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras for clarification of the tapping of his telephone and to the requests of former minister Christos Spirtzis and lawyer Zacharias Kesses for the wiretapping case to be re-examined in light of the testimonies and public statements of the four private individuals convicted at first instance to heavy sentences for the use of Predator.
The prosecutor does not, of course, invoke the political “arguments” of government officials, which range from “politicians are by definition subject to surveillance” to “the wiretapping affair is a matter involving private individuals on which the sovereign people decided in the 2023 elections.” Nor does he dismiss Antonis Samaras’s request with quips such as that it is reminiscent of old television series, or that the former prime minister stood as a candidate with the governing party in 2023 — that is, after the affair of the lawful intercepts had already been revealed. Legal grounds are what he sets out. He refers to the second-instance appeal trial of the four at the Court of Appeal next December. But the result is the same: the investigation is obstructed, bombshells such as Tal Dilian’s statement that he traded Predator exclusively with governments are ignored, the truth does not come to the surface, the scandal is covered up.
The government will thus continue to hide behind the archiving of the serious allegations. It cannot, however, at the same time express puzzlement at the collapse of citizens’ trust in institutions. What appears to concern it is that no new evidence surrounding scandals that could further damage its image should come to light before the elections. What is certain is that even if Justice appears compliant, neither the opposition nor the press will play along with this game.
Ta Nea – Editorial
