Nikos Androulakis, an EU lawmaker and head of the Greek socialist party (Pasok) whose phone was bugged by Greek secret services, has decided to take his case to the EU Court to find out why he was put under surveillance.
The Greek government has admitted that secret services had bugged Androulakis’ phone but never explained why, hiding behind a “national interest” argument.
“Although his surveillance by secret services for three months in 2021 was acknowledged by the prime minister himself, Androulakis was not given the opportunity to this day to even be informed in an official way of the reasons why”, Pasok said in a statement.
Pasok says specific provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights have been breached, and therefore, Androulakis decided to take the case to the EU Court.
The surveillance of politicians, journalists and businessmen by secret services or through Predator illegal spyware or both has rocked Greek politics for months.
The opposition says Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is involved in the scandal, considering that after it was revealed, both the head of his office and intelligence chief resigned.
For its part, the government insists it has never purchased Predator.
However, a new investigation conducted by the European Parliament’s PEGA committee found that Greek secret services have used the software.
Last weekend, Documento journal revealed that the heads of Greek army were also put under surveillance by the government.
“This certifies that the country is in a prolonged deviation from the elementary rules of the state law and the European acquis,” commented MEP Stelios Kouloglou.
(EURACTIV.gr)
Source: euractiv.com
