» SubscribeMain section
-
Top story
Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis on trial over bank list
BBC
DATELINE: 1/11/12
Journalist Costas Vaxevanis has gone on trial in Athens for breach of privacy after publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts. French authorities gave the names to their Greek counterparts two years ago, but documents were never investigated. Mr Vaxevanis told the BBC that politicians should be prosecuted for keeping the names secret. But Greek officials have said there is no proof that those on the list have broken the law.
Some of those named, said to include many prominent Greeks, are suspected of using the HSBC accounts in Switzerland for tax evasion.
Mr Vaxevanis says the list he published is the same one that was given by the then French finance minister Christine Lagarde to her Greek counterpart two years ago.
Greek officials say the list originally came from a former HSBC employee. The names on the list are said to include politicians, businessmen and others, sparking fury among ordinary Greeks as they are hit by deep austerity measures, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens.
The issue has revived claims that tax evasion remains rife in Greece, and that the authorities still are not serious about tackling it, our correspondent adds.
Mr Vaxevanis, 46, said he published the list in his magazine Hot Doc "because I'm a journalist and it's our job to tell the truth to the people". "The three last governments have lied and have made a mockery of the Greek people with this list," he said. "They were obliged to pass it to parliament or to the justice system. They didn't do it and they should be in prison for it."
Mr Vaxevanis said he thought the government had not acted on the list because it included friends of ministers, businessmen and powerful publishers. He also accused much of the Greek media of ignoring the story."The Greek press is muzzled," he said. "There is a closed system of power in Greece, wielded by the political elite, businessmen and journalists. "If I need to go to prison I will do," he said. "Not because I'm a hero, but to show the injustice of what is happening in Greece."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20163430.
For NUJ reaction go to: http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=2677
There is an Avaaz petition demanding that the charges be dropped:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Drop_all_charges_against_Greek_journalist_K
Last modified: Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Your comments:
» Click here to add your comment.
Comments will be subject to approval and should not be defamatory, obscene, racist, in breach of copyright, or contrary to law. The CPBF is not reponsible for any views expressed here.
Previous international stories
Fighting back against Portugal's media crisis
Dozens of Kurdish journalists face terrorism charges in Turkey
Support the Spanish miners' strike
Incinerating Assange - the liberal media go to work
Bradley Manning challenges prosecution for allegedly divulging secrets to WikiLeaks
New South African press law 'more harmful than apartheid-era censorship'
Four guilty of Danish plot over Muhammad cartoons
Tell your local papers: Cover Bradley Manning's pre-trial hearing, 6 June
US Newspaper Circulations on the Rise
Internet under threat
IFJ presses UN for action on media killings in 2011
Supporting Bradley Manning
EFJ condemns new wave of repression & arrests of Turkish journalists
Journalists suffer serious injuries in attacks by state security forces around Egypt
EFJ concerned by populist drift of France Soir management as owner backs far right in France
IFJ Welcomes Nobel Peace Prize Award to Yemeni Journalist
Norway gunman targeted journalists in manifesto
IFJ Conference 'Journalism in the Shadow of Terror Laws'
Bradley Manning's jail conditions improve after protest campaign
Campaign for freedom of expression growing in Turkey
Shadow of 9/11 attacks hangs over journalism,
Gareth Peirce speaks on Bradley Manning
Democratic abuses in Azerbaijan
IFJ mourns death of two photojournalists in Libya
Plea to WikiLeaks: access for all journalists; end exclusive deals
Personal security of journalists in Europe - a serious concern
EU lawmaker exhibits lobbying offers amid corruption scandal
IFJ warns over safety as journalist is killed in Libya
IFJ backs media reform as journalists are targeted in Middle East uprisings
EFJ calls for "radical surgery" not cosmetics on Hungary's media law
-
Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
-
Previous stories
International
Fighting back against Portugal's media crisis
Dozens of Kurdish journalists face terrorism charges in Turkey
Support the Spanish miners' strike
Incinerating Assange - the liberal media go to work
Bradley Manning challenges prosecution for allegedly divulging secrets to WikiLeaks
New South African press law 'more harmful than apartheid-era censorship'
Four guilty of Danish plot over Muhammad cartoons
Tell your local papers: Cover Bradley Manning's pre-trial hearing, 6 June
US Newspaper Circulations on the Rise
Internet under threat
IFJ presses UN for action on media killings in 2011
Supporting Bradley Manning
EFJ condemns new wave of repression & arrests of Turkish journalists
Journalists suffer serious injuries in attacks by state security forces around Egypt
EFJ concerned by populist drift of France Soir management as owner backs far right in France
IFJ Welcomes Nobel Peace Prize Award to Yemeni Journalist
Norway gunman targeted journalists in manifesto
IFJ Conference 'Journalism in the Shadow of Terror Laws'
Bradley Manning's jail conditions improve after protest campaign
Campaign for freedom of expression growing in Turkey
Shadow of 9/11 attacks hangs over journalism,
Gareth Peirce speaks on Bradley Manning
Democratic abuses in Azerbaijan
IFJ mourns death of two photojournalists in Libya
Plea to WikiLeaks: access for all journalists; end exclusive deals
Personal security of journalists in Europe - a serious concern
EU lawmaker exhibits lobbying offers amid corruption scandal
IFJ warns over safety as journalist is killed in Libya
IFJ backs media reform as journalists are targeted in Middle East uprisings
EFJ calls for "radical surgery" not cosmetics on Hungary's media law
