For the reactions that have occurred regarding the provision regarding the publication of the lawsuits, the Minister of Justice was asked to George Floridis, on the show “Mismatches” on SKAI, who argued that the law has been established for the “protection of the accused”.

As the minister explained, to the provision that has been in force for 22 years and provides for the ban on televising the proceedings, a ban via the internet was also added.

With reference to the announcement of SYRIZA criticizing this provision stating that it casts “darkness” on the information, Mr. Floridis stated that in the end it turned out that the MPs of the party had voted for it. “A fuss was made about nothing. As they have done within SYRIZA, they do not get along,” said the Minister of Justice.

He clarified that this provision does not concern the observatories, which can, under the stipulated conditions, monitor trials.

For the releases Mr. Floridis said that there are cases concerning before the new criminal code. “In the last 10 years, the great damage to the legislative system was done by the Paraskevopoulos law, with the provisions of which all serious crimes were released from prison” and he clarified that “what we have changed is that the judicial council, in addition to the conditions of the law, decides whether he will be released from prison based on the man in front of him”.

Regarding the results of the new criminal law so far, Mr. Floridis said that as of May 1, the period of impunity has ended. “The purpose is to make those who do illegal things realize that they will go to jail” and he concluded that “a system succeeds when it creates the certainty that you will go to jail.”

For the case Novartis and on whether the protected witnesses will be revealed, the minister said “that under the new code the prosecutor can evaluate the status with which the protection was given and judge whether it should exist or not” while referring to the statement of K. Velopoulos in Parliament who claimed that a member of his party received a suitcase with 30 million dollars to provide information, noting that it should be investigated what services he provided.

Finally, the minister said that the issue is the acceleration of justice. “With the unification of the magistrates’ courts, we have a 50% increase in the number of judges in the country and this will lead to a reduction in the time it takes to administer justice.”

He also referred to the CoE and the way in which it will take its decisions which will very rarely be amenable to postponement.