Greek defence minister takes on media in libel cases Court hears evidence in Panos Kammenos’ suit against Greek political cartoonist
Panos Kammenos, President of Independent Greeks (ANEL) speaking during a press conference, in Athens, Greece in September 2015. EPA/YANNIS KOLESIDIS
Last week was a busy one, to say the least, for press freedom in Greece: two major libel cases brought by Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party, made headlines in and outside the courtroom.
On Thursday, an Athens court heard evidence in Kammenos’ suit against well-known Greek political cartoonist Andreas Petroulakis over an opinion article Petroulakis wrote for the news site protagon.gr in March 2015. As the International Press Institute (IPI) previously reported, Kammenos sued Petroulakis for €1 million over the article, which argued that the coalition that Greece’s governing SYRIZA party formed with ANEL had altered SYRIZA’s leftist nature.
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