European court rules against Greece in 2005 wiretap scandal death

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ordered the Greek state to pay 50,000 euros in damages and expenses to the family of Costas Tsalikidis, a mobile telephone company worker who was found hanged in his home in March 2005, shortly before a major wiretapping scandal involving his firm became public.

Tsalakidis's family filed a complaint with the Strasbourg-based court in November 2014, claiming that Greek authorities had not sufficiently investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of the 39-year-old, especially after new evidence emerged in 2012 that contradicted some of the findings of the original autopsy report and police investigation.

In February 2006, then public order minister Vyron Polydoras announced the discovery of spyware implanted in the network of phone operator Vodafone that since June 2004 (two months before the Olympic Games) had...