The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday issued a ruling against Greece over statements and actions by top officials of the Tsipras government (2015-2019) against Evangelos Marinakis.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg found against the Greek state (Hellenic Republic) over what it called unlawful statements and practices by the government of then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his ministers Panos Kammenos and Stavros Kontonis. It condemned the reprehensible practice of releasing non-papers through the then prime minister’s office, condemned the grave defamatory accusations made against Marinakis, and found violations of fundamental rule-of-law principles, in particular the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.
Politically, the Court indirectly condemned efforts to steer and limit the independence of media owners when their outlets are not controlled by, or do not satisfy, the government.
The ruling condemned the false defamatory allegations concerning NOOR1 and related matters, allegations of which Marinakis has been irrevocably acquitted. The decision is a severe rebuke to the political leadership of the time and vindicates the claims of Evangelos Marinakis, who had publicly and strenuously maintained that the baseless allegations of his involvement in the Noor 1 case were clearly politically motivated and aimed at exerting pressure on him by the government at the time.
The ruling condemns defamatory practices employed in 2018 by the press office of then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras, as well as statements made by then-defense minister Panos Kammenos and then-justice minister Stavros Kontonis. Through an unprecedented and coordinated character-assassination campaign targeting Marinakis, involving tweets, non-papers, anonymous leaks to journalists and public televised statements, the latter sought both to influence the judiciary against him and to restrict Marinakis’ independence and of the media outlets he owned.
In a statement on Tuesday, it’s noted that “…This condemnation is important for the defense of the rule of law, and we hope it will not once again prove timely. Mr. Marinakis stood up as a citizen despite the enormous personal cost of resisting the erosion of the rule of law. Through his actions, he defended legality and justice. We owe this decision to him.
“Our hope is that citizens will always resist and defend the rule of law, and that the state and every government will avoid the temptation of abusing power in an attempt to control the judiciary, the press and the other institutions that form part of the system of governance.”
