Judges' Union Protests US State Department Statement on Giotopoulos Release

The Union of Judges and Prosecutors has voiced significant concern regarding a recent statement from the U.S. Department of State. The statement expressed deep disappointment over the Piraeus Court of Appeals' decision to release Alexandros Giotopoulos and urged the Greek government to take action to return him to prison.

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It is one of those rare occasions when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of another State attempts to openly intervene in the Justice of our country, even though it is well aware of the meaning of the separation of powers.

In its announcement, the Union described the U.S. State Department's action as a rare instance of a foreign ministry openly attempting to interfere with another country's judiciary, despite being aware of the principle of separation of powers. The Union questioned whether the U.S. now routinely allows its government to overturn judicial decisions.

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We do not know if in the USA it is now customary to cancel court decisions by the government, however, democracy in Greece and the inherent separation of functions assigns the authority to diagnose the preconditions for conditional release of detainees, for any crime and for which they are held in prison, exclusively to the judicial power.

"In Greece, democracy and the inherent separation of functions assign the authority to diagnose the preconditions for conditional release of detainees, for any crime for which they are held in prison, exclusively to the judicial power," the Union stated. The organization strongly protested the "unfortunate announcement" and called for support for the judicial system from the entire political spectrum.

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As a Judicial Union, we strongly protest this unfortunate announcement and expect the support of the judicial system from the entire political world.