By Ioanna Mandrou

Guilty of two offences the former minister was judged to be of duty Dimitris Papagelopoulos majority and unanimously innocent of moral authorship in the offense of prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki for abuse of power, who was acquitted by a majority.

The former minister was found not guilty by a majority of three other complaints of breach of duty that were related to complaints by prosecutors, Georgia Tsatani and the prosecutor Pan. Athanasiou.

In particular, the conviction of the former minister was by a majority, for the complaints against him by the prosecutor Eleni Raikou, which related to pressures he exerted to incriminate politicians in the Novartis case.

He was also found guilty for the complaints of the prosecutor Pan. Athanasiou that he was pressured for the case of the former head of Piraeus Bank Michael Salla.

He was found not guilty by the majority for complaints by the prosecutor Georgia Tsatani that he intervened in the case of the businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos, as well as for the complaints of the prosecutor Pan. Athanasiou for the cases of Yiannis Alafouzos and the businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos, as well as the case of the journalist of Neos Giorgos Papachristou.

The Court found the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki not guilty for abuse of power as well as for moral turpitude in this Dimitris Papagelopoulos.

The proposal of the Special Court prosecutor Olga Smyrlis was exculpatory to the Special Court for the former minister, as well as the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki.
Mrs. Smyrli in her plea had argued that the accusations against them were not proven in court.

The minister on trial faced accusations of breach of duty after complaints by prosecutors, that he interfered in their work, but also an accusation of abuse of power as the moral perpetrator of Eleni Touloupaki, for her failure to send to Parliament a report by KINAL deputies against two ministers on SYRIZA ANEL for drug pricing.
In particular, Dimitris Papagelopoulos, served for a long time as Deputy Minister of Justice in the SYRIZA ANEL governments and was tried for the complaints of three prosecutors, that while he was a minister he interfered in their work and in specific cases, claiming specific manipulations.

The former head of the Corruption Prosecution, Eleni Raikou, made complaints against him to the Parliament and to the judiciary, that he intervened during the investigation of the case with the illegal practices of Novartis, in order to incriminate, without evidence, political figures. He was also denounced by the honorary prosecutor of appeals Georgia Tsatani that he pressured her for certain manipulations in the investigations of the businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos, who has passed away, while the former head of the Economic Prosecutor’s Office Panagiotis Athanasiou also made complaints about interventions on behalf of Dimitris Papagelopoulos for a series of cases .

In particular, Mr. Athanasiou had denounced Dimitris Papagelopoulos for interfering in the affairs of the businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos, in a tax audit case of the owner of the TV station Sky, before the competition for the television licenses, with the aim of preventing him from taking part, but also for the journalist of Neos Giorgos Papachristos, that he had asked for his indictment without evidence, because he criticized the government at the time with his writings. Mr. Athanasiou had also made complaints about the case of the former head of the Piraeus Bank, Michalis Salla .

In addition to the allegations of interference, Dimitris Papagelopoulos was also tried for abuse of power, a felony, as the moral perpetrator of prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki, who was the head of the Corruption Prosecution and was accused of not sending KINAL MPs to Parliament for further reports for drug invoicing against two former ministers of the SYRIZA-ANEL governments, Panagiotis Kouroumplis and Andreas Xanthous.

The trial at the Special Court began in the middle of last September and lasted for six months. The trial was chaired by Areopagite Vasiliki Iliopoulou and prosecutor Olga Smyrli, who was also the prosecutor in the trial for former minister Nikos Pappa, who was unanimously sentenced to two years in prison with a three-year suspension, while the prosecutor’s proposal for him was exculpatory.