#vaxevanis

This week’s newsletter from AthensLive is out:

* Novartis scandal: An utterly failed mafia-style cover-up * “They shot him in the head” “Yes, but what was he doing blocking the library construction?” * They are capable of getting us into war even with Barbados

- are the main headlines to be found inside this highly informative weekly must-read from and about Greece.

An official FBI document included in the Novartis scandal file in Greece was reported as falsified in its Greek translation, to omit the names of two officials who were stated as bribed by the company. The student shot directly in the face with a stun grenade by a policeman has been, after all, very seriously injured. The Education Minister, instead of condemning the incident, justified lethal police violence against an unarmed civilian. Greek foreign policy seems in tatters. Iran seized two Greek-flagged tankers, following Greece’s seizure of an Iranian one at a US request. Tension escalated as Iran threatened to seize more Greek tankers. At the same time, Greek citizens are informed of crucial foreign policy decisions by foreign officials.

Add to these headlines and main features a lot more overview and details about a variety of aspects of Greece during the week - together with an abundance of links to further reading and to more knowledge about Greece today.

By reading the newsletter - and even better by subscribing or becoming a supporting member - you will also find a lot of links to other sources and to events and developments that you will not otherwise come across. And even if some of them are in Greek only, by using a Translator in your browser, it will be easy to read no matter how familiar you are with the Greek language.

It cannot be recommended strongly enough to read and share this week’s updates on the events and developments in Greece here:

https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=d4f2da07ebb5f5e4d14ad8e2d&id=9a0a6aba12 For anyone with a wish or need to follow and to gain an insight into recent events in Greece and to read and support independent and investigative journalism in English, the weekly newsletter from AthensLive should be a core element in the reading flow.

If you want the best overview of the events and developments in Greece right now, this is the place to go. Not the mainstream Greek news, but independent journalism with sharp analysis and links to interesting and important topics from a variety of sources.

Become a member and get the newsletter in your inbox every week here:

On Saturday 20 March, Kostas Vaxevanis, publisher of the Athens-based newspaper Documento, tweeted that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. His newspaper had published the full text of a lawsuit lodged against him personally by 22 police officers, with their names on its front page. The policemen were under investigation for the torture of a young activist.

Vaxevanis was not arrested, but the event was an alert to the journalist community of Athens. Documento and Efimerida Syntakton (a cooperatively run newspaper not controlled by the mainstream media conglomerates that are almost unanimously in favour of Greece’s conservative government) have been reporting the stories of victims of police harassment and abuse.

Earlier, on 9 March, clashes had erupted between the police and some of the 5,000 protesters who had gathered in the middle-class Athens suburb of Nea Smyrni to demonstrate against police brutality during the coronavirus quarantine. The protest was prompted by a recent event in the neighbourhood, when a rapid response squad out on COVID-curfew patrol harassed a family and then attacked a young man who stepped in to argue in their defence.

Three policemen were injured and one was hospitalised. The police arrested about 30 protesters, some of whom said they were mistreated and even tortured in police custody. Aris Papazaharoudakis, a 21-year-old student and activist, was ‘kidnapped’ the next day by masked men and taken to police headquarters where he was subjected to torture, according to the two newspapers.

Twitter and Facebook were flooded with mobile phone videos of the protest, depicting numerous incidents of police brutality. The mainstream media failed to represent the events impartially or accurately. National TV stations focused on the attack against the police officer, but almost completely ignored the reported cases of police violence.

Two weeks after Star TV crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz was gunned down outside his home, Kostas Vaxevanis, the owner of the newspaper Documento, reported on 24 April that he had grounds for believing he was also the target of a “murder contract.” Like Karaivaz, Vaxevanis has also done a great deal of investigative reporting on the police and corruption in Greece.

Karaivaz had investigated a group of criminals and police officers who were allegedly extorting money from nightclubs in exchange for protection, while Documento recently covered a case of police corruption.

And like Karaivaz, Vaxevanis had personally investigated the decision to provide controversial TV presenter Menios Fourthiotis with police protection, which was withdrawn after it was reported that the threats against Fourthiotis had been staged. Suspected of links with the murder contract against Vaxevanis, Fourthiotis was arrested on 27 April on a charge of “criminal conspiracy.”

Despite the Greek prime minister’s promise of a “swift investigation” into Karaivaz’s murder, the authorities have so far simply established that it was linked to the organized crime circles about which he reportedly had sensitive information. They have also identified the person who threatened him but have not linked that person to the murder.

Greek authorities should overturn the conviction of journalist Kostas Vaxevanis on appeal and reform the country’s outdated criminal defamation laws, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On January 21, a court in Athens found Vaxevanis, editor of the local newspaper Documento, guilty of criminal defamation for tweeting an image mocking former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, according to a report by his employer. The court sentenced him to a suspended sentence of five months’ imprisonment; if he is found to commit a similar offense over the next three years, that sentence will be enforced, according to the Documento report.

Vaxevanis told CPJ via email that he filed an appeal in the case, but said a date has not been set for a hearing.

In 2017, he was detained by police after the wife of the country’s former central bank governor, a Samaras appointee, sued him for libel over his 2012 reporting, according to reports.

Vaxevanis was acquitted of those charges on February 26, 2018, according to reports, and was arrested immediately afterwards in response to Samaras’ complaint, which was filed on February 25, according to a copy of the indictment against Vaxevanis, which CPJ reviewed. Vaxevanis told CPJ that he believed the suit is retaliation for his coverage of the former politician and those around him.

This week’s newsletter from AthensLive is out:

* Novartis Scandal: Threats, blackmails, and a not-so-blind Justice * Greek government “Press doctrine”: Either spy on independent journalists or pretend they don’t exist * Mitsotakis keeps blaming the victims

- are the main headlines to be found inside this highly informative weekly must-read from and about Greece.

Editor who was turned into a defendant for doing his job as to the Novartis scandal, by handing evidence over that proved that the Bank of Greece Governor had blackmailed a key witness into committing perjury. At the same time, Greece comes under EU pressure to transpose the Whistleblower Directive. The government through National Intelligence EYP was intercepting journalist Thanasis Koukakis’s communications, a breaking report proved. At the same time, the government pretends independent media do not exist by just ignoring their requests for comment. PM Mitsotakis insulted jobless people by stating that they are unemployed due to a lack of qualifications. This comes at a time when economic hardship is even greater due to skyrocketing inflation.

Add to these headlines and main features a lot more overview and details about a variety of aspects of Greece during the week - together with an abundance of links to further reading and to more knowledge about Greece today.

By reading the newsletter - and even better by subscribing or becoming a supporting member - you will also find a lot of links to other sources and to events and developments that you will not otherwise come across. And even if some of them are in Greek only, by using a Translator in your browser, it will be easy to read no matter how familiar you are with the Greek language.

It cannot be recommended strongly enough to read and share this week’s updates on the events and developments in Greece here:

https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=d4f2da07ebb5f5e4d14ad8e2d&id=88d7d1dbca

For anyone with a wish or need to follow and to gain an insight into recent events in Greece and to read and support independent and investigative journalism in English, the weekly newsletter from AthensLive should be a core element in the reading flow.

If you want the best overview of the events and developments in Greece right now, this is the place to go. Not the mainstream Greek news, but independent journalism with sharp analysis and links to interesting and important topics from a variety of sources.

Become a member and get the newsletter in your inbox every week here:

Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis recently heard someone was trying to have him killed. Days later, another well-known investigative journalist was assassinated in a mafia-styled execution in Athens. EURACTIV spoke to Vaxevanis to find out if press freedom is in trouble in Greece.

A source told Vaxevanis there were death contracts against him and another journalist just three days before fellow reporter Giorgos Karaivaz was shot dead on 6 April. The same source claimed the contract against Vaxevanis had been put out by TV presenter Menios Fourthiotis.

Vaxevanis had recently accused Fourthiotis of fabricating his journalistic credentials. Fourthiotis and two other men were arrested on 23 April over the alleged assassination plot against Vaxevanis. All three have denied all wrongdoing.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it had contacted Fourthiotis’ lawyers for comment but received no reply.

Vaxevanis told EURACTIV he does not know if Karaivaz’s killing is connected with the alleged contract against him.

“It is up to the police to investigate,” he said. “What I do know, however, is that journalism, and especially my newspaper Documento and I, have been targeted in an unprecedented way by the Greek government and the business elite.”

A TV host and publisher has been been initially detained by police and later arrested and is accused for faking an armed attack at his own house after police withdrew protection he received as a private citizen. There have been also allegations of having taken out a contract on the life of a prominent journalist has been arrested on suspicion of forming a criminal organization.

Τhe 35-year-old TV host and two other Greek men who operated as accomplices were arrested on Tuesday.

The TV-man faces charges for 2 felonies and 7 misdemeanors, state-run news agency amna reported.

According to kathimerini, the suspect had himself become news fodder earlier this month, when it was discovered that he enjoyed unwarranted constant police protection because his life was supposedly in danger. The police detail was taken away and a prosecutor is investigating the case.

Last Thursday, the TV-host reported an armed nighttime attack on his house. A police investigation found out that the same gun had been used in an armed attack against police officers on April 16. The two perpetrators were arrested.

The police have also presented evidence of text communications between the accused, including messages on the day of the attack.

At least one of the alleged accomplices has a long criminal record, media reported citing police sources.