In the country where the Republic was born, there is a sense of its decay. This is how Politico begins his article on Greece and the administration of justice on the occasion of three major cases that shook the whole of Greece: the train tragedy in Tempi with 57 dead, the shipwreck in Pylos with 82 dead and the wiretapping case.
“Greece has experienced a series of scandals that, although all different, give the feeling that the justice system is collapsing and those in power do not want to fix anything. Or even worse, they are guilty,” the publication says.
“There is a sense of a systematic and concerted effort to downplay certain incidents,” said Andreas Pottakis, the Ombudsman, an independent official who looks into government maladministration. This gives rise to “suspicions of an attempted cover-up” and negligence that “could concern the political leadership”.
Three huge cases have tested the country’s faith in its judicial structures in the last two years. Two of them are disaster-related: A train crash in February 2023 that killed 57 people, and a shipwreck off the coast of Greece’s Peloponnese last summer that left hundreds of Asian and African migrants presumed drowned.
The other, Politico continues, is a widespread spyware scandal that has embroiled the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Last week a high court prosecutor cleared the country’s politicians, police and intelligence services of wrongdoing.
Worrying questions
Such incidents, in isolation, could have been faced by several governments in the world. Their handling, however, raises troubling questions, says Politico.
Opposition parties, groups set up by victims’ families and independent investigators speak of a cover-up, witnesses silenced, legal documents ignored and victims sidelined. Parliamentary inquiries have done nothing but muddy the waters, the report says.
According to a survey conducted on behalf of the Eteron Institute on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Greece’s return to democracy, only 29% of citizens trust the country’s justice system.
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