Tough response from the Supreme Court to the European Parliament on the rule of law – “Direct and impermissible interference with justice” 2024-02-15 22:41:22

In particular, the Plenary of the Supreme Court which was constituted in an Administrative, i.e. not in a judicial formation, decided, with a strong majority of 49 and 13 against, that the provisions referred to in the Resolution regarding the handling of judicial cases, constitute a direct intervention in the work of the Greek justice.

The minority of 13 Areopagits were of the opinion that the matter is of a political nature and cannot be the subject of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court.

The Plenary of the Supreme Court was set up on the initiative of the President of the Supreme Court Ioanna Klapas and the participation of the Prosecutor Georgia Adelinis and was placed in every complaint of the resolution, contradicting with its decision, one by one, its points, concerning a series of cases, such as the investigations into Tempi, the investigations into telephone surveillance, cases of corruption, media funding (the well-known Petsa list), the investigation into the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, but also the wreck of Pylos.

Special reference is made to the Resolution of the European Parliament on the judicial treatment of Panagiotis Dimitras who is being prosecuted by the judicial authorities for a series of illegal actions, issues for which the Plenary of the Supreme Court was also concerned.

In all the cases mentioned in the Resolution, the Plenary took the position that the mentioned are vague, without documentation, without impartiality and without any assignment of the investigations to a national or community authority, with the result that they constitute a direct intervention in the work of Greek justice.

According to information during the meeting of the Administrative Plenary of the supreme court, where the highest judges participated, the Areopagite Panagiotis Lymberopoulos proposed all the issues raised in the resolution and for each case he provided a special justification.

Starting from the complaints for not referring political figures to an investigation for Tempi, Mr. Lymberopoulos clarified that the judiciary has significantly advanced the investigations into the tragedy with regard to non-political figures, while for any responsibilities of the politicians, he emphasized that the judiciary does not have any competence, as the Greek constitution has assigned this competence for politicians only to the Parliament.

With regard to the strong criticisms formulated by the Resolution on the handling of the wiretapping case, both for the investigations and for the targeting of Christos Ramos, head of the Independent Authority, Mr. Lymberopoulos described it as an impermissible interference in the work of the prosecutors and judicial authorities the suggestions of the Resolution on the ongoing investigation, as well as his objections to the assignment of the investigations to a supreme prosecutor.

In the same logic of direct and impermissible interference in the work of Greek justice, Mr. Lymberopoulos characterized the objections of the Resolution regarding the case of Jacques Kostopoulos, as he stated that the perpetrators have been tried and convicted in the first instance and the trial is now taking place at the Court of Appeal , while he took a similar position on the complaints about the murder of the journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, stressing, among other things, that the judiciary is investigating the case, that those involved have already apologized and there have been pretrial detentions.

According to information, Mr. Lymberopoulos also referred to the objections of the Resolution that the leadership of the supreme courts is appointed by the government, noting that this is provided for in the constitution which is in force with the will of the Greek people and that the relevant selection process is carried out in compliance with the constitution in terms of legitimacy, stressing that the unsupported references in the Resolution show Greek justice as a subordinate of politics.

Also, according to information, Mr. Lymberopoulos dismissed as vague and unsubstantiated the complaints about the investigations into the fatal shipwreck off Pylos, noting that the Resolution attempts to directly interfere with the work of the Greek judicial authorities.

A similar position was also proposed by Mr. Lymberopoulos for the treatment of victims of rape and sexual violence, arguing that the prosecutor’s authorities take charge of every complaint, there is a special prosecutor for minors and the prosecutor’s office appoints prosecutors to handle special issues for minors, cases of domestic violence and trafficking.

According to information, the Areopagite rapporteur concluded that the Resolution adopts questionable data and conclusions that have been drawn without documentation by quoting false and unconfirmed information.

He added that all this harms justice, since as he pointed out, it is possible to give citizens and community institutions the impression that the rule of law in Greece is declining due to corruption that includes the judiciary.