There was a noticeable downplaying yesterday of the request by the majority of the members of the Board of Directors of the Athens Bar Association<\/b> for resignation of the prosecutor of Aristoi Pagos<\/b> Konstantinos Tzavellas<\/b>, regarding his handling of the wiretapping case, during a press conference. <\/p>\n
Both the president of the Bar Association,Andreas Koutsolambros<\/b>, and the vice-president,Christina Tsagli,<\/b> expressed their disagreement on the controversial request, the former with the minority and the latter with the majority, appearing united in abandoning on the merits, not only the submission of the relevant resignation request, but also the reference to it. “The presence of the IAA Bureau today demonstrates the unity of the body and the identical view of all the members of the Board of Directors on the issue of the filing of the case by the prosecutor of the Supreme Court in the wiretapping case.<\/b> All three proposals submitted for a vote in the Board of Directors highlighted our opposition to the archiving of the case,” the AIA President noted and continued: “It violates the criminal doctrine, the rule of law and the settled jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights<\/b>.” <\/p>\n
However, all members of the Board are unanimous as to the actions they will take from now on in order to bring out the truth, which will be “on the one hand to raise the issue in the European fora and on the other hand to provide support to the victims of phone tapping and their lawyers in any legal action that will lead to the revelation of the truth before the Greek and European courts<\/b>“. <\/p>\n
As the President stressed, expressing the entire Bar Association, “the Bar Association, faithful to its historical path and its struggles for democracy, is urgently intervening in public and demands, with all the means at its disposal, the clarification of the case and the attribution of legal responsibility<\/b>. In matters of principle, the protection of citizens’ individual rights and the rule of law, no one has the right to remain silent. <\/p>\n
Vice president Christina Tsagli was also emotional, but she wanted to justify the majority’s decision, saying: “The members of the majority are absolutely and conscientiously convinced that in this case we are faced with an unprecedented attempt at a cover-up that shakes the foundations of the constitution. Moreover, the minority, despite the different wording in which it was drawn up, points out that there is a serious question as to the stubborn and totally disproportionate failure to investigate the matter further.The refusal of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court to discharge his statutory duty in such an important case is, in our view, an institutional aberration hence the Board held that he abdicated his duty by failing to discharge his institutional role<\/b>“.<\/p>\n
During the interview, it was pointed out that in the Strasbourg court, according to recent European standards, there is a basis for an appeal against Mr. Tzavella’s act of not withdrawing the case file of the wiretapping case from the file to succeed. However, this will take a long time and the term of the Supreme Court prosecutor expires in two months.<\/p>\n
Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law, Nikos Alivizatos<\/b>, referred to the cases of general interest currently pending before the European Court of Justice; one of them is the surveillance case for which the president of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, but is still at the stage of exchanging memos. Closing his statement, he said meaningfully: “It is worth fighting the battle institutionally, but not by denouncing”. <\/p>\n
Lawyer Vassilis Chirdaris<\/b> referred to the rights and obligations of the Bar Associations under the current legal framework, which they are entitled to and must demand: <\/p>\n
1. A full judicial investigation of all aspects of the case. <\/p>\n
2. Removal of all obstacles to access to the case file for the victims and their representatives. <\/p>\n
3. Verification of the legality of liaison orders and surveillance orders.<\/p>\n
4. Special protection of attorney-client, journalistic and parliamentary privilege. <\/p>\n
5. Accountability of all state or private mechanisms involved. <\/p>\n
6. Independent oversight of monitoring mechanisms, in accordance with the requirements of the ECHR. <\/p>\n
The press conference was attended by the former Minister of Justice and former President of the IOA, Andreas Koutsolambros<\/b>, and the Vice President, Christina Tsagli<\/b>, in addition to the President of the IOA, Andreas Koutsolambros<\/b>, Antonis Roupakiotis<\/b>, the former caretaker Minister of Interior and Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law at the Law School of the University of Athens, Nikos Alivisatos,<\/b> and the lawyer Vassilis Chirdaris<\/b>. The press conference was moderated by the General Secretary of the IOA, Kostas Karetsos.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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