Upheaval in judges' union as two top officials quit

Two vice presidents of the Council of State on Wednesday quit the Union of Judges and Prosecutors, condemning last week's controversial decision by the president of the court, Nikos Sakellariou, to suspend a plenary session to consider appeals by television channels against the constitutionality of a recent government auction of TV licenses.

In separate letters to the union, the two officials of Greece's highest administrative court, Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou and Christos Rammos, said that the president's decision to suspend the meeting was "unprecedented" and "a grave mistake."

Last Friday's session was suspended after just an hour following a disagreement between judges about how to proceed amid concerns about attempts to influence the judgment of the court. Sakellariou ended the session "because of efforts to create a certain climate in recent days, through public...