REPORTS
New lawsuits filed by Grigoris Dimitriadis against media outlets and journalists condemned as SLAPPs.
In December 2023, international and domestic organisations defending press and media freedom issued statements condemning the new lawsuits brought by the former Secretary General of the Prime Minister and political head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Grigoris Dimitriadis against journalists and media outlets investigating the wiretapping scandal.
On December 7, the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (Ε.Σ.Η.Ε.Α.) issued a statement expressing once again its opposition to the practice of legal action which aims to intimidate journalists and hinder public interest investigations.
Recently, Grigoris Dimitriadis, who was forced to resign from his position as Secretary General of the Government when the wiretapping scandal was revealed by the press, has unleashed a barrage of new lawsuits against many journalists and media outlets, with exorbitant damage claims. In its statement, ESIEA also referred to the new European Union legislation, which aims to protect journalists from SLAPPs, (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) which aim to “obstruct information on matters of public interest”.
According to press reports, Mr. Dimitriades has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper Efimerida ton Syntatkon as well as their reporter Dimitris Terzis; the journalists of Reporters United, Nikolas Leontopoulos, Thodoris Chondrogiannou and Christoforos Kasdaglis; the journalist and victim of the wiretapping Thanasis Koukakis, as well as against the media outlet Alter Ego Media (which owns Mega, Vima and NEA). Mr Dimitriades has also filed lawsuits against other media outlets, including the publication Avgi.
The new lawsuits are a reaction to the joint publication on 3 November 2023, entitled “Predator Files: From the number of Grigoris Dimitriadis with love”, which revealed that Dimitriadis’s mobile phone number had been used to send messages with a link infected with illegal Predator spyware to 11 targets in Greece. At the time the messages were sent, Dimitriadis was serving in the prime minister’s office and oversaw the EYP. The report was based on evidence gathered by the Greek Data Protection Authority and the judicial authorities during their investigation into the surveillance scandal, which the journalists acquired through sources. It was published by both Reporters United and EfSyn as part of the Predator Files investigation.
In the lawsuits, Dimitriadis claims he was not responsible and was unaware of the infected messages sent via a web-to-SMS service. All those named in the lawsuit have stood by the accuracy and public interest nature of their reporting and intend to fight the lawsuit in court. They stress that at no point did they suggest Dimitriadis was responsible for sending the messages himself and stated clearly in the report that there was no evidence for this.
Reporters Without Borders tweeted their support of the journalists, condemning the lawsuits as an intimidation attempt.
The IPI also released a statement, “The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemns the multi-million-euro legal action taken against media and journalists by the nephew of the country’s prime minister over their revelations about his connections to the ‘Predatorgate’ spyware scandal and renews its calls for measures to combat vexatious lawsuits against the press in Greece.” They go on to clarify that: “IPI believes this latest lawsuit also bears many characteristics of a SLAPP. We therefore call on Dimitriadis to withdraw both lawsuits and to refrain from taking frivolous legal actions against individual journalists or media in the future. As noted by the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers, this lawsuit appears to be unfounded and aimed at stifling watchdog reporting on a matter of clear public interest.”
In a state governed by the rule of law, where individual rights are protected, as well as freedom of the press, journalists have the right to freely and independently exercise their profession, free from censorship and influence.
Despite the guarantee of freedom of the press under Article 14 of the Constitution, in this case, international and domestic organisations condemn the lawsuits filed by the former Secretary General and nephew of the Prime Minister, Grigoris Demetriades, against media outlets and journalists investigating the wiretapping scandal, describing these legal actions as “attempted intimidation” and characterising them as SLAPPs, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, the purpose of which is to hinder journalistic investigation through the financial and moral exhaustion of journalists. At present Greece lacks a legislative framework to combat SLAPPs and protect journalists from this type of legal action.
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