(GHM/IFEX) – On 21 October 1998, the Council of Appellate Judges of Athens acquitted journalists George Harvalias, Noni Karayanni, George Papathanassopoulos of the “Eleftheros Typos,” daily and Mihalis Kottakis of the “Apogevmatini” daily from charges of disclosure of state secrets. **Updates IFEX alert of 22 August 1997** Background Information Charges were initially brought against the […]
(GHM/IFEX) – On 21 October 1998, the Council of Appellate Judges of Athens
acquitted
journalists George Harvalias, Noni Karayanni, George Papathanassopoulos of
the “Eleftheros Typos,” daily and Mihalis Kottakis of the “Apogevmatini”
daily from charges of disclosure of state secrets.
**Updates IFEX alert of 22 August 1997**
Background Information
Charges were initially brought against the journalists, with the active
involvement of the Greek Foreign Ministry, after they had published, on
three separate occasions in 1997, classified documents from the ministry on
matters of foreign policy. A Council of First Instance Judges had likewise
acquitted them earlier in 1998, but a prosecutor had appealed that verdict.
It was widely believed he had acted with the encouragement of the Foreign
Ministry.
