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Wiretaps: Z. Kesses deconstructs the Prosecutors' Union - 'Will they explain to us how unaffected they are?'
🇬🇷 Greece /Crime & Justice

Wiretaps: Z. Kesses deconstructs the Prosecutors' Union - 'Will they explain to us how unaffected they are?'

From Ta Nea · () Greek

Translated from Greek, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Lawyer Zacharias Kesses questioned the Greek Prosecutors' Union's stance on the wiretapping case.
  • He posed seven questions, highlighting instances where the union remained silent on alleged surveillance of prosecutors.
  • Kesses criticized the handling of the case, particularly the decision not to re-examine wiretapping evidence.

Lawyer Zacharias Kesses has directly challenged the Greek Prosecutors' Union, posing seven pointed questions regarding its response to the ongoing wiretapping scandal. Kesses's inquiry follows the union's criticism of media reports and public statements that it deemed exceeded "the limits of legitimate criticism" concerning the Supreme Court Prosecutor's decision not to reopen the wiretapping case files. This decision affects requests from former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, ex-SYRIZA minister Christos Spirtzis, and Kesses himself.

I read the announcement of the Union of Prosecutors of Greece with particular attention and the references to the alleged use by me of 'characterizations that exceed the limits of strict criticism of a prosecutorial judgment.'

— Zacharias KessesResponding to the Prosecutors' Union's statement criticizing his remarks.

Kesses expressed that he read the union's announcement with "particular attention" to its claims about his use of language. However, he stated that "certain reasonable questions" arose, which he believes the union should answer to avoid further embarrassment through "selective or possibly commissioned interventions." He questioned the union's silence on multiple occasions when prosecutors themselves were allegedly targeted by surveillance software like Predator.

Why did it not issue a statement when their colleague Christos Bardakis, then Economic Prosecutor and later Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, was trapped with the Predator spyware during the exercise of his duties?

— Zacharias KessesQuestioning the union's silence on alleged surveillance of fellow prosecutors.

Specifically, Kesses asked why the union did not issue statements when economic prosecutor Christos Bardakis and prosecutor Vasiliki Vlachou, who oversaw EYP (National Intelligence Service), were reportedly targeted by Predator. He also questioned the union's silence when a case file was removed from Athens prosecutors and reassigned, and when a colleague allegedly mishandled a case despite a conflict of interest related to his oversight of EYP during the period in question. Kesses further inquired about the union's lack of comment on the targeting of prosecutor Pavlidis and the handling of evidence, including a cooperation memorandum between EYP and North Macedonia's intelligence service, which he claims was modified by Intellexa executives.

Why did it not issue a statement when, for the first time in judicial history, the case file was removed from the Athens Court of First Instance Prosecutors and assigned to another prosecutorial official?

— Zacharias KessesQuestioning the union's silence on procedural irregularities in the wiretapping case.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Ta Nea in Greek. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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