The issuance a few days ago of a decision by the Court of First Instance of Athens, which adjudicated lawsuits by the former close associate of the Prime Minister Grigori Dimitriadis against media outlets and journalists for critical reporting and revelations about the much-discussed wiretapping case cannot go unnoticed.
Judges ruled on the Dimitriadis lawsuits, largely based on rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), based in Strasbourg, and argued in favor of protecting criticism (even harsh) of the media and journalistic speech about politicians and public figures, as this is imperative due to justified interest.
After the decision, however, Mr. Dimitriadis appealed to the National Radio and Television Council, which will be called upon to rule on the difficult field of European data.
In any case, the reasoning behind the decision of the Court of First Instance is based on what the Strasbourg Court has decided in recent years, condemning our country as well, for violations in many cases of the protection of journalistic speech and freedom of expression.
“Legitimate interest”
What did the Court of First Instance of Athens say? We copy an excerpt from the reasoning of the decision: “Due to the journalistic nature of the publication, the public office held by the plaintiff, which has the character of a purely political position, and even a non-elected one, as well as the importance for the public sphere of the wiretapping case, it is judged that there is a justified interest of the editors and therefore, the injustice of the defamation suffered by the plaintiff is removed”. The reasoning of the judges of the Court of First Instance (the decision was taken by a majority of two to one) is in line with the major changes, which are already the subject of serious political and legal directions in the European institutions and also in the ECtHR.
Here, of course, in our case, these issues, which touch – as the Strasbourg Court emphasizes in a series of its decisions – the essence of democracy and the protection of rights, related to freedom of expression and the press, are dealt with in terms of previous years , and in any case not under the conditions that the European acquis requires for these rights.
Directive and Recommendation from the European Commission
But let’s take things in order. Since last March, the European Commission has issued Directive number 2022/0117 on the protection of freedom of expression and the right to freedom of the press, with an emphasis on journalists and the media, a directive that has currently only been ratified by Malta, while all European countries, including Greece, have until 2026 to implement it, decisively changing the way in which journalistic revelations and journalistic criticism are treated to this day.
At the same time, the European Commission has issued a special Recommendation, which is directly applicable in our country – other than what is done in practice -, which imposes certain rules on how journalists must be protected from legal claims, which aim, not at the protection from the unfair attacks through the press against public figures or other figures, but the intimidation of journalists, their silencing and ultimately the cancellation of any criticism of powerful actors, public figures and politicians.
Non-implementation and convictions
The Recommendation of the European Commission for the protection of journalists and the media from intimidating legal claims, although it should have been applied in our country, remains unenforceable, while the Greek courts overlook its content, the European directions, and usually move in a logic incompatible with the rights of freedom of journalistic speech and the new facts that dominate the legal commitments of the European Union. That is why it is no coincidence that as a country we have relevant convictions from the Court of Human Rights (indicative is its decision in the “Balaskas v. Greece” case).
But what does the Recommendation provide that is not yet implemented and the Directive that remains to be incorporated into Greek law?
Both the Recommendation and the Directive provide specific protection measures for the freedom of the press, expression and the exercise of the journalistic profession, removing obstacles to the annulment of the so-called SLAPP lawsuits (their name comes from the English acronym Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, which in in Greek it is rendered as “Strategic lawsuits against public participation”).
“For the purpose of intimidating the defendants”
What are these lawsuits, which are little known to the general public – but also at the legal and expert level in our country, while in Europe they are at the center of decisions and legal commitments for all member states? As the lawyer explains in “Vima”. Zacharias Keseswho has supported journalists in cases of lawsuits by public figures (he also participated in the trial for the lawsuits of Grigoris Dimitriadis), “these lawsuits, which are also called strategic lawsuits, are not based on the exercise of the right of access to justice with the aim of vindicating someone whose honor and reputation have been insulted. Rather, they act to intimidate the defendants and exhaust their resources. The ultimate goal of these lawsuits is to act as a deterrent, to silence journalists, for example, and the media, to prevent them from continuing their actions. Common targets are mainly journalists and human rights defenders”.
Professional prosecutors
Of course, there is also the other side of the coin, which has nothing to do with public figures or powerful people who aim to silence and prevent journalistic revelations, but professional prosecutors, who drag journalists and media to court for anything, with the aim of their financial exhaustion and their professional discredit. For these professional plaintiffs there was even a regulation recently by the Ministry of Justice, which is implemented, and which imposes on them not only court costs but also criminal sanctions when their lawsuits are malicious and obviously defamatory.
In any case, the decision recently issued by the Court of First Instance of Athens for publications related to wiretapping is one of the first to be in line with European legal commitments for freedom of expression and the protection of journalists, in view of the implementation of the relevant Directive but primarily of the decisions of the Court of Human Rights, which has clearly separated defamation, insult, malicious journalistic criticism, from harsh criticism that is justified for public figures and politicians. Because more one and more the other!
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