Greek Journalist Wins Libel Case Against Former Government Officials

Greek journalist Thanos Dimadis recently won a long legal battle in his libel case against media representatives and officials associated with the former SYRIZA administration.
Dimadis, who also is an author and the current President of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States, was awarded compensation totaling 160,000 euros by a Greek court in July “for personal and professional damage” he has sustained.
The court ruled that he had been the target of slanderous and libelous campaign from “employees and representatives of SYRIZA and Nikos Pappas,” as the journalist noted in a Facebook post.
Pappas, first appointed as a Minister of State in the first cabinet of Alexis Tsipras, became a cabinet minister in charge of media and telecommunications. He is thought to be close to Tsipras.
Pappas accused Dimadis of spying on him during his visit to New York in September, 2016. He had also alleged that the journalist had been arrested by US authorities. While Dimadis categorically rejected the accusations, some Greek media reported on the alleged incident, unquestionably adopting the minister’s version of events.
The Greek journalist and author, whose second book about power and the media in Greece hit the bookshops earlier in September, proved that he was never arrested by any US authorities and that the slanderous and libelous campaign against him in Greece had been directed by Pappas and his associates in the media.
Dimadis has now named all those who have been ordered by the Greek court to pay compensation for damages. Among them is the former Director of the Athens Macedonia News Agency (AMNA), the former General Manager of News and Information for state television channel ERT and several individual journalists and news organizations.

Η Δικαιοσύνη μίλησε. Καταδικάστηκαν οι υπάλληλοι και εκφραστές ΣΥΡΙΖΑ-Παππά. Καταδικάστηκαν όλα τα πρόσωπα & ΜΜΕ εναντίον των οποίων προσέφυγα. Μου επιδικάστηκε συνολική αποζημίωση 160.000 ευρώ μέχρι στιγμής για την βλάβη που μου προξένησαν με τα συκοφαντικά στημένα ψεύδη τους. pic.twitter.com/PzzZuzy4Ua

— Thanos Dimadis (Θάνος Δημάδης) (@thanosdimadis) July 30, 2020