He will abstain from tomorrow’s vote in the House of Representatives on the waiver of immunity of his colleagues, announced New Democracy MP Stelios Petsas.
As he said, in statements to SKAI, he does not agree with the lifting of immunity deputies of the ruling party, whose names are mentioned in a dossier on the OPEKEPE case.
In fact, he spoke of a “great downhill slide” that is opening up, in which all MPs will be prosecuted for any issue in an unprecedented manner. “People do not want silent MPs, but people who express their opinion based on the oath they have taken in the Constitution and vote according to their conscience,” he said while speaking to SKAI.
He added, “after the 2019 revision, Article 62 of the Constitution provides for the immunity of MPs only for their parliamentary duties and political activity. In all other cases, immunity is compulsorily lifted. This is what this Parliament has done, 97 waivers of immunity have been done in this period. I believe that sending a message asking if something is being done – as Mr. Vartzopoulos has done – or sending an e-mail – as Mr. Mitarakis has done – fall clearly within their political activity.”
At the same time, Mr. Petsas stressed that the assessment made by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office before sending the file to Parliament was “inadequate” and “sketchy”.
He said, “I have not heard anyone, including MPs from other parties, say that the above is not within the competence of the MP. We are not talking about illegal acts, but about expressing interest in a request from a fellow citizen.We will not prohibit someone from making a phone call or sending a message.”
