Dimitras’ reply to slanders: Complaint against Prime Minister Mitsotakis – Justice Minister Floridis & Report to Supreme Court

GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM)
P.O. Box 60820, 15304 Glyka Nera, Tel. (+30) 2103472259 Fax: (+30) 2106018760
e-mail: panayotedimitras@gmail.com website: https://greekhelsinki.wordpress.com

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Dimitras’ reply to slanders:
Complaint against Prime Minister Mitsotakis – Justice Minister Floridis & Report to Supreme Court

7 May 2024

In the «European Parliament resolution of 7 February 2024 on the rule of law and media freedom in Greece» there was the following reference to Greek Helsinki Monitor Spokesperson Panayote Dimitras:

«whereas Panayote Dimitras, a human rights activist and founder and head of the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), is being prosecuted for illegal trafficking even though it appears that he was acting lawfully to provide humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers; whereas in December 2022, he was handed down a fine and prohibited from being involved with the GHM; whereas the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced concerns about the case; whereas the Anti-Money Laundering Authority ordered the freezing of all of Dimitras’s assets in May 2023; whereas Dimitras stated on 31 May 2023 that he had only received EU funding designated for combating hate speech and that the funds were only used for that purpose; (…) Is concerned by the attacks against civil society and, in particular, smear campaigns and judicial harassment by Greek authorities targeting human rights activists; (…) calls on the Greek authorities to drop all charges immediately and ensure that humanitarian workers and volunteers can provide assistance safely and freely»

There were public replies to the Resolution by the Supreme Court on 15 February 2024 («Minutes and Decision of the Administrative Plenary of the Supreme Court 2/2024») and by the Government with a letter by the Minister of Justice George Florides to the President of the European Parliament  without a a date that was tabled in Parliament on 28 March 2024 by Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis («Response of the Greek Government to the 7.2.2024 Resolution of the European Parliament on the State of Rule of Law in Greece»). In these two documents, there were slanders against Panayote Dimitras that he allegedly had «telephone conversations with the traffickers while the transport operators and those to be transported are still on the coast of Turkey shortly or long before they start their journey to Greece» (Supreme Court) and that allegedly «he was arrested on the island of Kos » (Government).

Following that, Panayote Dimitras submitted on 9 April 2024 a report to the Supreme Court («Comments on “Minutes and Decision of the Administrative Plenary of the Supreme Court 2/2024” and Request for Actioν») and on 25 April 2024 to the Athens Misdemeanors’ Prosecutor («Complaint against Mitsotakis – Florides for breach of duty, aggravated defamation, and violation of Article 18 ECHR») which are publicly released today.

In these texts it is obviously stated that Panayote Dimitras was never arrested in Kos (nor anywhere else and nor at any other time) and that he never had any contact with traffickers either in this case or in any other case and it is added that a similar claim does not even exist in the relevant charges against him.

In the report to the Supreme Court, because the latter stated in its decision that the actions of the judicial and other authorities must be carried out with commitment to the guarantees of a fair trial, the unlawful actions are documented in detail. That is to say, it is documented by reference, inter alia, to the sworn testimonies of the Head of the Refugee Protection Unit at the UNHCR Greece and of the Deputy Ombudsman, who describe the correctness and indeed the completeness of the actions of GHM in cases of arrivals of foreigners in Greece wishing to seek asylum, that the judicial and other authorities involved have repeatedly violated the guarantees of a fair trial with the aim to smear Panayote Dimitras. It is then requested that the provisions of the rule of law be applied to establish the violations of the guarantees of fair trial so that the prosecution of Panayote Dimitras be terminated, to lift the freezing of his bank account and to impose the criminal and disciplinary sanctions provided for by law against those who have violated the guarantees of a fair trial, and indeed repeatedly, with the aim, not of course, to deliver justice, but to smear him and to obstruct his work as a human rights defender.

Greek version