Greek Prosecution of Novartis Reporters ‘an Attempt to Terrorize Journalists’

The former ruling New Democracy party MEP, and publisher of the free newspaper Free Sunday, George Kyrtsos, in a post on Twitter, condemned the prosecution of two journalists, Costas Vaxevanis and Gianna Papadakou, and a prosecutor, Eleni Touloupaki.

He said EU funds for Greece were at risk of being cut when the rule of law is violated, comparing Greece with Poland and Hungary.

New Democracy fired Kyrtsos last week as one of its MEPs over his criticism of the government's handling of a long-running alleged drug bribery case involving the Swiss drugs firm Novartis.

It said Kyrtsos had failed to "promote the country's positions in the European Parliament" and was instead "giving the country a bad name by questioning the independence of the Greek justice system and by comparing Greece to states that violate the rule of law".

His behaviour "was an insult to all those who trusted him to represent them". the party said. "There can be no tolerance for defaming the country," it continued.

Kyrtsos on Monday responded by saying that Mitsotakis had personally warned him of his "imminent expulsion" back in April 2021. "I was surprised that he chose the battleground of Novartis in his effort to justify his authoritarian practices."

"He has accused me of degrading the image of Greece and the government in the European Union. That kind of accusation is usually used by post-Soviet authoritarian regimes. … In my view, the negative image of the government in the European media and possibly in the European institutions is the result of Mitsotakis' illiberal practices."

The Novartis scandal has been the biggest political scandal in Greek history, involving ten former prime ministers and ministers from both New Democracy and its onetime...