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SYRIZA submitted a parliamentary question for the publication of the "Lagarde list" by Kostas Vaxevanis

30 October 2012 / 22:10:21  GRReporter
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The arrest and trial of journalist Kostas Vaxevanis who published the "Lagarde list" last Friday have started to obtain a clearer political shade. SYRIZA’s leader Alexis Tsipras submitted a parliamentary question on the list to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, accusing the government of trying to silence free speech.

The leader of the radical left accused the former ministers of finance George Papakonstantinou and Evangelos Venizelos of not having been doing anything for the last two years to investigate the persons on the list. According to him, the inaction of government members has led "to the memoranda policy that has been disastrous to the Greek people, while some have remained intact, protected by an unacceptable veil of silence and cover-up."

Alexis Tsipras defined as a paradox "the fact that there is no legal persecution against politicians who had hidden the "Lagarde list" and at the same time, legal proceedings against the journalist who has published it have been initiated."

Kostas Vaxevanis himself praised foreign media for the fact that they ''continue to keep the "Hot Doc" magazine and the persecution a hot topic. The Greeks continue to throw the logic away through the TV window."

Today, the British newspaper The Guardian published his article entitled "Greece gave birth to Democracy. Now it has been cast out by a powerful elite." In it, he again criticizes the position of the Greek media, which he says are silent on the disclosure of the names on the "Lagarde list."

Kostas Vaxevanis writes that over the past two years, rumours about big bank accounts of Greek citizens in Switzerland have "poisoned" Greek political life and have created fertile ground for political and economic racket "in the dark rooms of corrupt power."

He claims that with his arrest, "the power has shown its hypocritical face" because he was arrested for violation of the law on personal data protection, which he believes he has not broken, having published only names. Kostas Vaxevanis states that he has not written about any guilt of the people on the list, but "only called for an investigation" by the financial control authorities.

At the same time, however, he writes, "in the mythology of ancient Greece, justice is presented as blind. In modern Greece, it is merely winking and nodding. A study of the Lagarde list is highly revealing. Publishers, businessmen, shipowners, the entire system of power is shown to have transferred money abroad. And this is information from only one bank. Meanwhile in Greece, people are going through dumpsters for food. What was an assumption in people’s minds has become a reality with the publication of the list."

In response to his accusations that the he is a victim of political persecution, a letter appeared on social media. It was sent to him in 2011 by the director of the public ERT TV at the time, where Kostas Vaxevanis still presents his show "Pandora's Box." It reveals that the journalist is actually well incorporated in the system that he accuses of haunting him.

"I wonder what "political persecution" you are talking about since your company earned the amount of 1,174,120 euro for the 2010 - 2011 TV season from its cooperation with ERT. In addition, the amount of 943,164 euro has been approved for the new one (2011-2012), which is 2,117,284 euro for the two television seasons," reads the letter of Lambis Tagmatarhis in response to the public complaints by Kostas Vaxevanis that political circles have demanded the suspension of his show.

In conclusion, he writes, "Mr. Vaxevanis, each of us has his own short story in journalism. My story does not give you the right to make suggestions that I've had or taken any pressure to stop your show but it does not allow me to present you as the victim of intrigues and conspiracies either."

Tags: PoliticsSYRIZAKostas VaxevanisLagarde listERTProduction house
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