REPORTS
Chief of the General Staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces Konstantinos Floros under surveillance by the National Intelligence Service
On 25 December 2022, the newspaper Documento reported that the National Intelligence Service (EYP) had placed the Chief of the General Staff of the National Defence Staff (GNDF) Konstantinos Floros under surveillance, citing national security reasons. The surveillance lasted at least until the first quarter of 2022.
The newspaper claimed that their sources indicated that the real interest in Floros was not for national security reasons but rather was related to arms supplies and his finances, but added that if the government and the prime minister had any doubts about the General, they should have removed him from power, or if they had any evidence of illegal activity they should have investigated him criminally. Given that neither of these things occurred, the paper posits that the evidence was gathered through surveillance for the purpose of blackmail.
During the parliamentary session of 26 January 2023, the leader of the opposition, Alexis Tsipras, confirmed that the National Intelligence Service (EYP) had placed under surveillance the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Konstantinos Floros, the Minister of Labour Costis Hatzidakis, Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff. Lt. Gen. Charalambos Lalousis, former National Security Advisor Alexandros Diakopoulos, the head of the General Directorate of Armaments Aristides Alexopoulos, as well as the latter’s predecessor in the same position, Theodoros Lagios.
Mr.Tsipras learned of these findings during a meeting with the President of the independent communications privacy authority (ADAE), Christos Rammos. ADAE had conducted an investigation, approaching telecommunications providers to establish beyond doubt whether these persons had indeed been placed under surveillance by the national intelligence service.
Following the revelations, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and former Deputy Prime Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, argued in a speech that the lifting of the secrecy of communications of senior officials in the armed forces was illegal. Venizelos reasoned that if the surveillance of these persons was legal and conducted for a justified reason, then the persons in question should not have remained in power, noting that the surveillance of senior armed forces personnel raises a major issue of national security as well as one of respect for the rule of law and for the Constitution, which guarantees the absolute inviolability of the confidentiality of communications (Article 19).
The national intelligence service, EYP, was brought under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister’s office after New Democracy won the 2019 elections. The Prime Minister’s nephew, Gregory Dimitriadis, was placed as the Prime Minister’s Secretary General and the political head of the National Intelligence Service.
Although Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees the absolute inviolability of the confidentiality of communications, the National Intelligence Service (EYP) under the supervision of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis illegally monitored Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Konstantinos Floros, raising serious issues of national security and the rule of law.
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