By Ioanna Mandrou

As an impermissible and direct intervention in the work of the Greek judicial authorities, in heaps of cases that are judicially pending, with unproven and unsubstantiated objections, it characterizes with a decision of the the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court the Resolution of the European Parliament for the rule of law in our country as far as justice is concerned.

Particularly, the Plenary of the Supreme Court which was constituted in an Administrative, i.e. not in a judicial formation, decided, with a strong majority of 49 and 13 against, that the things referred to in the Resolution regarding the handling of judicial cases, constitute a direct interference in the work of the Greek judiciary.

The minority of 13 Areopagits were of the opinion that the matter is of a political nature and cannot be the subject of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court.

The Plenary of the Supreme Court was set up on the initiative of the President of the Supreme Court Ioanna Klapas and the participation of the Prosecutor Georgia Adelinis and was placed in every complaint of the resolution, contradicting with its decision, one by one, its points, concerning a series of cases, such as the investigations into Tempi, the investigations into telephone surveillance, corruption cases, media funding (the well-known Petsa list), the investigation into the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, but also the wreck of Pylos.

Special mention is made to Resolution of the European Parliament in the judiciary treatment of Panagiotis Dimitras who is being prosecuted by the judicial authorities for a series of illegal actions, issues for which the Plenary of the Supreme Court was also concerned.

In all the cases mentioned in the Resolution, the Plenary took the position that the mentioned are vague, without documentation, without impartiality and without any assignment of the investigations to a national or community authority, with the result that they constitute a direct intervention in the work of Greek justice.

According to information during the meeting of the Administrative Plenary of the supreme court, where supreme judges participated, the Areopagite Panagiotis Lymberopoulos proposed all the issues raised in the resolution and for each case provided a special justification.

Starting from the complaints about not being referred to an investigation of political figures for Tempi, Mr. Lymberopoulos clarified that the justice system has significantly advanced the investigations into the tragedy as far as non-political persons are concerned, while for any responsibilities of politicians, he emphasized that the judiciary has no competence, as the Greek constitution assigns this competence for politicians only to the Parliament.

Regarding the strong criticisms that the Resolution makes for the manipulations in the wiretapping case, both for the investigations and for the targeting of Christos Ramos, head of the Independent Authority, Mr. Lymberopoulos described the suggestions of the Resolution for the investigation as impermissible interference in the work of the prosecutorial and judicial authorities development, as well as his objections to the assignment of the investigations to a supreme prosecutor.

In the same logic of direct and impermissible interference in the work of Greek justice, Mr. Lymberopoulos characterized and the objections of the Resolution on the case of Jacques Kostopoulos, as he stated that the perpetrators have been tried and convicted in the first instance and the trial is now taking place at the Court of Appeal, while he took a similar position on the complaints about the murder of the journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, stressing, among other things, that the judiciary is investigating the case, that they have already those involved have apologized and there have been detentions.

Mr. Lymberopoulos, according to information, as well referred to the objections of the Resolution that the leadership of the supreme courts is appointed by the governmentnoting that this is provided for by the constitution which is valid with the will of the Greek people and that the relevant selection process is carried out in compliance with the constitution in terms of legality, stressing that the unsupported references in the Resolution show the Greek judiciary as subordinate to politics.

Also for information Mr. Lymberopoulos rejected as vague and unsubstantiated the complaints about the investigations into the wreck with many dead off Pylosnoting that the Resolution attempts to directly interfere with the work of the Greek judicial authorities.

also a similar position was suggested by Mr. Lymberopoulos for dealing with victims of rape and sexual violence, arguing that prosecutors handle every complaint, there is a special juvenile prosecutor, and the prosecutor’s office appoints prosecutors to handle special cases involving minors, domestic violence and trafficking cases.

According to information the Areopagite rapporteur concluded that the Resolution adopts questionable data and conclusions drawn without substantiation by quoting false and unverified information.

He added that all of this offends justicesince as he pointed out, it is possible to give citizens and community institutions the impression that the rule of law in Greece is declining due to corruption that includes the judiciary.