Court finds health minister guilty of defamation

A first instance court in Athens has ordered Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis to pay 25,000 euros in compensation after finding him guilty of defaming the national federation of Greek hospital workers (POEDIN) and its president, Michalis Yannakos.

The case dealt with comments that Polakis had posted on Facebook in early January 2017 targeting Giannakos for statements he had made to the British Guardian newspaper regarding the state of the Greek health service.

In his social media post, Polakis called Yannakos as "a fool" and accused him to telling "despicable lies," adding that his "place is on the trash heap of history."

POEDIN subsequently initiated legal proceedings against Polakis, accusing the minister of using "degrading, insulting and wholly inappropriate" language in his social media comment.

Awarding 5,000 euros to POEDIN and 20,000...