Surveillance Figure Named Top Prosecutor

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This is our weekly roundup from Greece. 

Greece has a new Deputy Prosecutor of the country’s Supreme Court. It’s the prosecutor who, during her tenure at EYP, is said to have approved a substantial number of surveillance authorisations — many reportedly lacking thorough examination.

A dubious amendment pwas assed overnight this week. It allows politicians’ relatives to participate in foreign companies.

An official report on the Tempi accident provides material for a government counter-attack regarding cover-up accusations. Only the report does not say what the government says it’s saying. 

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Who gets promoted in the Greek judicial system?

“Anyone who dares to speak the truth gets dragged through the mud,”

emphasised (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Maria Karystinou, head of the Tempi Victims’ Relatives’ Association, during an event held at the European Parliament on the Rule of Law and Press Freedom in Greece. 

During the event, which took place on 15 May and was entitled “Journalism on Trial,” significant issues were addressed, such as the Tempi train disaster, the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, and the wiretapping scandal.

Preceding the event, in May, Vasiliki Vlachou had been promoted (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to Deputy Prosecutor of Greece’s Supreme Court.

Vlachou was the former prosecutor for Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) during the high-profile surveillance scandal involving wiretaps on politicians, journalists, military officials, and thousands of citizens under the banner of “national security” - widely known as “the Greek Watergate”.

During her tenure at EYP, Vlachou is said to have approved a substantial number of surveillance authorizations, many of which reportedly lack thorough examination. Her promotion comes upon recommendation by a senior Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court and places her among nine prosecutors recently promoted to the country’s top judicial ranks.

The decision has drawn intense criticism, particularly from the PASOK party. In a public statement, the party emphasised that her promotion followed a disciplinary investigation by her successor, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and transparency. PASOK also accused authorities of effectively “burying” the surveillance scandal.

Appointed to EYP in May 2020, Vlachou’s term coincided with a dramatic rise in surveillance warrants citing national security grounds. The Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) data showed 15,475 such authorizations in 2021—up from 13,751 in 2020 and 11,680 in 2019.

Following revelations about the scandal, Athens Bar Association president Dimitris Vervesos had called for disciplinary proceedings against Vlachou. However, she was cleared and resumed her role as head of the Piraeus Court of Appeal Prosecutor’s Office.

She has now joined the Supreme Court. 

Also worth mentioning is that this week, Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adeilini was selected (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as the prosecutor for the Judicial Council tasked with concluding the pre-trial phase following the referral of former Deputy Minister Christos Triantopoulos for the offense of breach of duty in relation to the Tempi accident. All members of the Judicial Council were selected by lot in a draw held in the plenary session of the Hellenic Parliament.

Course of Freedom leader Konstantopoulou raised concerns about a conflict of interest, as Mrs Adeilini is the Supreme Court Prosecutor (who, however, is expected to retire soon), and Dimitris Tzanakopoulos from the New Left described the development as negative.

A very dubious amendment

An amendment passed overnight this week allows politicians’ relatives to participate in foreign companies.

More specifically, the bill allows the spouses and first-degree relatives of political figures to participate in foreign companies, provided that those countries maintain a tax cooperation agreement with Greece. Justice Minister Floridis initially admitted that “it is not ideal for any government to legislate through amendments,” but claimed that this specific amendment enhances transparency and clarifies certain issues.

The amendment, which was introduced as part of a bill scheduled for a vote the following day, modifies a 2003 legislative provision that had prohibited political figures (such as the prime minister, MPs, ministers, regional governors, and mayors), as well as “proxy individuals” (i.e., spouses and first-degree relatives), from holding shares or participating in foreign companies. With this new regulation, the category of "proxy individuals" is removed, thus allowing the relatives of politicians to legally participate in companies abroad without legal consequences.

The amendment has sparked intense backlash from the opposition.

PASOK-KINAL called the overnight legislative maneuver an entirely unacceptable process without clear justification. SYRIZA echoed concerns about poor legislative practices and noted that introducing surprise amendments has become routine, diminishing Parliament's institutional role. KKE pointed out that the amendment could be “tailor-made” and noted that previous governments have employed similar practices.

Tempi: The Official report does not shed light on what caused the fireball, the government claims it does 

An official report on the causes of the Tempi train crash was released on Tuesday. Dimitris Karonis, the appointed judicial expert and professor at the School of Chemical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, issued the report. It is the second official report commissioned by the judicial authority, specifically, by the special appellate investigating judge handling the Tempi case.

The report was reportedly (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) more like a compilation of assessments and probabilities, based overwhelmingly on data from the Hellenic Police and footage from Interstar, but offers no definitive answers. No clear conclusions are drawn. As Professor Nikos Belavilas wrote: “This isn’t science, it’s public relations: evasive answers and questions open to interpretation.”

Karonis concludes ambiguously that the train engine silicone oils “might have led” to a fireball in complete contradiction to the findings of Professor Konstantopoulos on behalf of the National Organization for Accident Investigation and Transport Safety (EODASAAM).

Immediately after the report was released (so quickly that it raises questions about when they had the time to read its 132 pages), government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis declared that “the cover-up narrative is collapsing.” He was referring to the widespread belief that the train carried flammable illegal cargo. “This puts an end to the most blatant and deliberate attempt at misinformation we've seen in years,” he added. “When there’s no illegal cargo, what exactly is someone trying to cover up?”

However, the final sentence of the Karonis report, however ambiguous, does not justify Marinakis’s self-confidence. It says:

“So, with regard to the combustion, it is reasonable to assume that the silicone oils contributed to the fire due to the high temperatures that prevailed after the development of the fireball.”

In other words, the report says the fireball had already happened when the silicon oils allegedly contributed to it. 

The government has already managed to spread its side of the story.  

PASOK pointedly commented, “They almost demanded we apologise for holding them accountable as the main opposition.” SYRIZA–Progressive Alliance emphasised that “New Democracy is already condemned in the conscience of the Greek people over Tempi.” The Communist Party of Greece KKE, for its part, highlighted that “the investigation keeps stumbling over the tampering of the crime scene,” the New Left stated that the case is being approached as a communication tactic both by New Democracy and by opposition parties and Course of Freedom called (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for criminal investigation into the engineer behind the report.

Maria Karystianou, president of the Victims' Families Association, wrote: “Once again, shame, anger, and disgust, following the release of the infamous ‘Karoni Report’!”

The victim’s family lawyer commented that the ambiguities in the final phrase we emphasised above, like “reasonable to assume” and “participated in the fire,” leave unanswered key questions, such as: Who or what else participated?

All in all, the whole debate on what caused the fireball has come to serve the government’s need for a shift of what should have been the real focus: the huge government responsibilities on the lack of safety systems in the railway, following the latter’s privatisation - and the need for all those responsible to be punished.

Read

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• Mitsotakis awarded in Berlin for Greece’s ‘economic miracle’ – Faces awkward praise for six-day working week (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Trans Rights Index & Map 2025: Backsliding outpaces progress – Where Greece stands (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Athens and Berlin have reasons to take a closer look at each other (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• “Law and Order” in Greek universities: Harsh penalties, suspension of student status, expulsions, and controlled access announced by Education Minister (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Poor pay, work conditions driving nurses out of ESY (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• The alarm bell before the bang (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• A winner, imposing, controversial' - who is Forest owner Marinakis? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• The volunteer firefighters warding off Greece's blazes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Explaining Greece: Photographing Athens’ Favorite Flea Market (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Reading Greece: Vinieta, a Little Bookstore in Thessaloniki, Where Stories Bring People Closer (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Rare migratory birds lure watchers to Greece’s Lesvos island (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Klavdia Qualifies Greece for Eurovision 2025 Final with “Asteromata” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Love Across the Aegean: A Greek-Turkish Romance Blossoms on Kastellorizo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Acropolis Museum Marks International Museum Day With Free Admission (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Stunning Flower Moon Over Temple of Poseidon in Greece Grabs Global Media Attention (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• The Oldest Greek Company Still Makes Chocolate (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Ippokratous and Asklipiou: Two streets, infinite microcosms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• On Mount Athos, a cliffside monastery transcends country-based branches of Orthodoxy (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Young nurse brings kitten back to life with CPR (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

• Is Zakynthos the New Santorini? Overtourism on the Ionian Island Sparks Debate (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

That’s all for this week; please forward this email to anyone you think might find it interesting and ask them to join our international community! 

The AL team