Thread by @reporters_gr

#Thread: Grigoris Dimitriadis won the “SLAPP Politician of the Year” award from @CASECoalition, an 🇪🇺 initiative against abusive lawsuits.

❗The award concerns the #lawsuit filed against #ReportersUnited, @EFSYNTAKTON & @nasoskook, with which #Dimitriadis claims > €500.000.

2⃣ In August, 2022, an investigation by #ReportersUnited & #Efsyn exposes connections starting from #Dimitriadis’ dealings & reaching Felix Bitzios, former deputy administrator of #Intellexa, the company trading the #Predator spyware.

#PredatorGate

3⃣ After the revelations & the disclosure of the surveillance of N. #Androulakis, head of #PASOK party, #Dimitriadis stepped down from his position as Secretary General of the Prime Minister.

❗On the same day, he filed a lawsuit against the journalists behind the investigation.

4⃣ The lawsuit by #Dimitriadis has been denounced as an attempt to silence journalists by international & national organisations, such as:

🔹 @OSCE_RFoM
🔹 @EFJEUROPE
🔹 @RSF_inter
🔹 @globalfreemedia
🔹 @Hellenic_League

#PredatorGate #SLAPPs

5⃣ “The decision to sue Thanasis Koukakis and the journalists who investigated the surveillance to which he was subjected is deplorable,” said @pavolszalai, the head of @RSF_inter’s European Union and Balkans desk.

rsf.org/en/abusive-law…

6⃣ The “SLAPP Politician of the Year” award was presented by @CASECoalition, an 🇪🇺 initiative against abusive lawsuits.

Significant organisations are members of the coalition, such as:

🔹 @EFJEUROPE
🔹 @CPJ_Eurasia
🔹 @fidh_en
🔹 @Greenpeace

#SLAPPs

the-case.eu/about

7⃣ #SLAPPs are strategic lawsuits intended to silence anyone daring to hold the powerful accountable (civil society, media, journalists).

❗️The @Europarl_EN & the @EU_Commission have acknowledged the need for an 🇪🇺 legal framework to address abusive lawsuits.

8⃣ #Greece has still not adopted a legal framework for #SLAPPs.

❗️As a consequence, powerful businesspeople & politicians are able to file lawsuits in order to silence journalism & critique against them.