Vaxevanis to be retried as Golden Dawn go on a people-pummelling frenzy
Under Greek law, if you The State
fail to nobble someone at the first attempt, you can appeal for another
go. Funny old way of working, but anyway – as you can imagine with the
Greek ‘élite’ – once a few euros have been exchanged between the right
and left hands, such appeals are rarely turned down.
Journalist Kostas Vaxevanis
So it is that 48 hours ago journalist Kostas Vaxevanis was told he is
to stand trial again because he released details of the notorious
Lagarde-List naming of 2,059 Greeks with bank accounts at the Geneva
branch of HSBC.
The Prosecution considers as “legally erroneous” the acquittal
judgment made by the Court trying Vaxevanis the first time time around.
But interesting from the British standpoint is that sources from the
prosecutor’s office said
the appeal ‘comes after complaints by citizens and lawyers.’ This is
probably the same sort of pressure that forced Lord McAlpine (entirely
against his will) to extract £185,000 from the BBC, and not give it to
Children In Need. The Greek ‘complaints’ are not explained, and so
Kostas – a modern-day Mr K from The Trial by Franz Kafka – will
go through the ordeal again. Clearly the international outrage at his
original arrest has now been overtaken by domestic Greek complaints.
Said Vaxevanis at his trial, “Greek people have known for two years
now that there is a list of people who are rich, rightly or wrongly, and
they are untouchable. At the same time, the [Greek people] are on the
other side, they are suffering cuts”. The trial came only days after he
was arrested, while tax evaders won’t face prosecution for up to a
decade….and probably never. This chimes in an odd sort of way with the
rapid reimbursement of a privileged English gent, and the continuing
poverty of those who were abused by person or persons unknown in the UK
Care Homes scandal.
