Greece

(GHM/IFEX) – The following is a 3 April 1999 GHM press release: TOPIC: GREEK STATE NEWS AGENCY DISTORTS IFJ STATEMENT ON B92. UNSCRUPULOUS JOURNALISM REIGNS SUPREME IN GREECE. The cooperating NGOs Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group – Greece would like to denounce the unscrupulous distortion on 3 April by the Greek state Macedonian […]

(GHM/IFEX) – On 7 March 1999, the Chief Prosecutor of the First Instance Court of Athens, G. Koliokostas, brought criminal charges for disclosure of state secrets against all those responsible for the publication in the country’s largest daily newspaper “Ta Nea” of a top secret report. The report was written by Greek Ambassador to Kenya […]

(IPI/IFEX) – The following is an IPI letter to Greek Minister of Press and Information Dimitris Reppas, in response to his recent statements following the publishing of IPI’s annual World Press Freedom Review: Mr. Dimitris Reppas Minister of Press and Information Government of Greece Athens, Greece Vienna, 15 February 1999 By fax: +301-3606969 Dear Mr. […]

(GHM/IFEX) – Greek Helsinki Monitor is welcoming Greece’s Supreme Court decision to overturn the verdict of 13 July 1998 by the “Single-Member First Instance Court of Salonica, Procedure for Summary Measures” which had ordered the removal, in every future reprint or edition, of the following entry in the “Dictionary of Modern Greek Language”: Bulgarian (…) […]

(GHM/IFEX) – GHM is welcoming the decision of the Appeals Court of the Aegean which, in Chios, on 21 January 1999, acquitted Yannis Tzoumas, journalist and publisher of “Alithia”, a daily on the island of Chios, of defamation charges. Tzoumas had been convicted on 3 September 1998 by a First Instance Court in Chios, to […]

(GHM/IFEX) – GHM is denouncing and condemning the repeated attacks of Greek Foreign Minister Theodore Pangalos against journalists who hold opinions he considers embarrassing. **Updates IFEX alert of 23 December 1998** On 22 December 1998, in Skopje during an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia, he said that there is no Macedonian minority in […]

(GHM/IFEX) – The following is a 23 December 1998 GHM press release further to an attack on journalists and others by Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos during an official visit to Macedonia: Press Release 23/12/1998 Government, parties & human rights organizations must condemn intolerant statements by Foreign Minister Pangalos The cooperating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Greek […]

(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is deeply concerned about the Greek authorities’ escalating use of criminal libel legislation in an evident attempt to muzzle critical journalists. The organisation feels it imperative that this issue be brought to light at the EU summit meeting which Victor Klima, Federal Chancellor of Austria and President of the Council of 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 […]

(GHM/IFEX) – On 10 October 1998, Lutfu Karakas of the Turkish Hurriyet Press Agency, a Turkish citizen, and Mucahit Dukkanci, a Greek citizen, journalist, and at the time, candidate for mayor in the Turkish minority community of Myki (Thrace), were taken into custody by local police. They were told that the village was in a […]

(WAN/IFEX) – On 8 October 1998, WAN called on Greece to repeal its “wholly inappropriate” criminal libel law and protested against the recent convictions of several journalists. In a letter to Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Simitis, WAN protested prison sentences handed down last month to six Greek journalists who were convicted of criminal libel. **New […]

(GHM/IFEX) – On 21 September 1998, a three-member Misdemeanor Court of Salonica sentenced “Avriani” newspaper publisher George Kouris, editor George Tsiroyannis and journalist Stelios Vorinas to 4 years and 11 months of prison. They were convicted for aggravated defamation and insult of Yannis Raptopoulos, owner of “Express Service,” a roadside assistance company; Raptopoulos also owns […]

(GHM/IFEX) – Greek Helsinki Monitor was informed that a Macedonian Television (MTV) crew was refused entry visas by the Greek Liaison Office in Skopje. The crew intended to cover the trial of the Macedonian minority party Rainbow; on 15 September, Rainbow was on trial in Greece for the use of the Macedonian mother tongue. The […]

(GHM/IFEX) – Four journalists have been recently sentenced to jail in Greece. 1. On 17 September 1998, journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos was convicted and given a suspended sentence of eight months for the defamation of Minister of Justice Evangelos Yannopoulos, in an article in the daily “Kalimera” in January 1998. In the article, he had argued […]

(GHM/IFEX) – The cooperating organizations Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group – Greece express their strong condemnation of the government’s intent to introduce amendments that will severely limit freedom of speech in the electronic media. **This press release contains information further to IFEX alert of 24 August 1998** On 18 August 1998, Minister of […]

(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is most concerned about proposed legislation that would make broadcasting “slanderous and insulting matter” a criminal offence in Greece. Under the legislation, proposed on 18 August 1998 by Justice Minister Evangelos Yannopoulos, existing slander and libel laws would be expanded to include a minimum two-year sentence for radio and television journalists, as […]