By Ioanna Mandrou

Clarifications on the legislative regulation of the Ministry of Justice, which prohibits the transmission of court cases via the Internet, if the parties do not consent, or if the public interest does not impose it and with the permission of the public prosecutor, were given in an announcement by the ministry after a series of publications, which made reason for a ban on journalistic coverage of the proceedings.

The Ministry of Justice, for the provision passed at the end of last week, clarifies that the only new thing introduced with it is the prohibition that now also concerns the internet, as a ban on television and radio coverage of a trial has been in effect since 2002 and is generally applied from the total media with extremely rare, almost non-existent violations at times.

The new provision which adds to the ban on the transmission of the content of a trial, criminal, civil or administrative and the internet, also concerns the so-called “observatories” which have recently appeared in trials, such as the one for the murder of Jacques Kostopoulos and the much-lauded trial of the Stock Exchange.

These “observatories” broadcast the trials directly in detail, as their presence had been allowed by those directing the judicial process, while in other trials the opposite had happened.

With the provision that has now been passed, the presence of observatories is also not allowed, the activity of which has sometimes been received by parties in a positive way and sometimes in a negative mood.

In any case, the order that has now been passed provides, among other things, that it is prohibited to broadcast, in whole or in part, in any way, in particular through television, radio, the Internet and in general any technological means, as well as the filming, filming, recording and recording of the trial into a written text through special software that converts the spoken word into written text, before a criminal, civil or administrative court”. Article 31 states that “exceptionally, the court may allow” the transmission of what happens in the adjudication of cases “provided the prosecutor and the parties consent and there is an essential public interest”.

For its part, the Ministry of Justice, after attacking the official opposition party, among other things notes:

“It is well known that SYRIZA has lost touch with reality for a long time. The fact that they cannot, however, read the simple wording of a regulation in force since 2002 (Article 8 of Law 3090/2002), is quite ridiculous. Therefore, because they refer to the “blackout” that the government puts on journalistic coverage of serious trials, we refer to the provision of the above article which has been in force for 22 years and which prohibits the “total or partial broadcast by television or radio, as well as the filming and videotaping the trial before a criminal, civil or administrative court, unless the court itself grants the relevant permission”. To the above methods of transmission with the recent regulation, transmission via the Internet was also added.