Greek spyware crisis spawns SLAPP suits
Investigative reporter Thanasis Koukakis
As we’ve previously reported, this summer Greece has been rocked by a series of scandals over the apparent state sanctioned use of spyware against critical journalists and opposition politicians.
Now key figures in the scandal have taken legal action against publications and one of the most visible reported victims, in a move RSF has dubbed “abusive.”
The suits have been brought by Grigoris Dimitriadis, who until recently was both Secretary General to embattled Prime Minister Mitsotakis, and his nephew. Mitsotakis reportedly asked for the resignation of Dimitriadis after the surveillance became public.
In his suit against the Reporters United website and journalists Nikolas Leontopoulos and Thodoris Chondrogiannos, the journalists who wrote its article, Dimitriadis is seeking 150,000 euros ($152,640) in damages and a retraction of claims that he had dealings with with Intellexa, an Israeli company that sells the Predator spyware.
A second suit against the newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton (EfSyn) claims 250,000 euros ($254,400) in damages for its story about the Predator scandal after reports which also revealed that 15,700 other targets in Greece had their phones bugged.
Incredibly, Dimitriadis is also suing investigative reporter Thanasis Koukakis - a victim of the surveillance - demanding the withdrawal of a tweet about the Reporters United and EfSyn revelations in what appears to be a further attempt to quash the story.
“The decision to sue Thanasis Koukakis and the journalists who investigated the surveillance to which he was subjected instead of trying to shed light on the surveillance itself is deplorable,” said Pavol Szalai, the head of RSF’s European Union and Balkans desk.
“We call on Grigoris Dimitriadis to immediately withdraw his abusive lawsuits against Reporters United, EfSyn and Thanasis Koukakis, the sole aim of which is to intimidate journalists, and we urge the government to reestablish a relationship of trust with the journalistic community,” he added.
“An analysis of the financial transactions of companies selling the Predator spyware, and their potential relations with companies that are state subcontractors, is also essential,” said RSF.