Court Slaps Down Dimitriadis’s SLAPP Suits Against in.gr

A Greek civil court has rejected a lawsuit filed by Grigoris Dimitriadis against Alter Ego Media, in.gr managing editor Argyro Tsatsouli and myself, in a ruling that carries implications well beyond the case itself. The lawsuit concerned an article published by in.gr on October 23, 2023, titled “Wiretapping: The Investigation Is Being Upgraded — What Are the Government and Opposition Saying.”

This is the first of 22 SLAPP lawsuits Dimitriadis has filed against Alter Ego Media and its journalists to produce a ruling — and its reasoning matters. It is a ruling that plainly and simply defends the right of journalists and media outlets to report on Grigoris Dimitriadis in connection with the wiretapping scandal, to raise reasonable questions about his possible involvement in it — an affair that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself has described as “a shadow over the government” — without facing lawsuits whose sole purpose is to silence them and prevent them from doing their job.

We use the term SLAPP deliberately and not loosely. SLAPP suits — Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation — are legal