The decision marks another victory for press freedom and investigative journalism. The judgment also included an award of €7,000 in legal costs.
The lawsuit concerned posts published by Koukakis on X and statements he made in interviews about Greece’s wiretapping scandal. Dimitriadis argued that the statements had harmed his personality rights, professional standing and future prospects, and sought €350,000 in damages.
In its reasoning, the court found that Koukakis had drawn on information available at the time, journalistic investigations and the findings of competent authorities. It said he had expressed opinions based on logical inference rather than arbitrary conclusions and had identified the sources of his information.
The court also ruled that referring to Dimitriadis alongside businessman Yiannis Lavranos and former Intellexa executive Felix Bitzios as ‘protagonists of the wiretapping scandal’ was neither an extreme characterisation without basis nor beyond the limits of acceptable journalistic criticism.
The judgment stressed that Dimitriadis, as a public figure, was required to show greater tolerance of journalistic scrutiny of his conduct. It also held that the phrase ‘godfathers of wiretapping’ did not exceed what was necessary. The court noted that Dimitriadis and Lavranos are linked through a godparent relationship. It considered the expression mocking, but not an instance of indiscriminate targeting, and found it justified by the existence of that relationship.
During the hearing, the presiding judge reportedly challenged Dimitriadis’s legal team over why he had not sued the individuals allegedly involved in the surveillance operations while taking legal action against journalists.
Zacharias Kesses, lawyer for Koukakis and other surveillance victims, said: ‘Now that Grigoris Dimitriadis has read the decision rejecting his claim, perhaps he will remember to do the obvious: bring civil and criminal proceedings against Tal Dilian, Sara Hamou, Yiannis Lavranos and Felix Bitzios, who used his mobile phone number through spoofing to target dozens of people, including the chief of the Hellenic Police and the prosecutor overseeing the National Intelligence Service (EYP). He should also take action against Tal Dilian over what he has stated publicly and set out in writing about the sale of Predator to the Greek security services during the same period in which Dimitriadis himself supervised EYP.’
Koukakis’s other lawyer, Giorgos Stamatiadis, said:
‘The decision found that the disputed statements did not exceed what was necessary, did not contain extreme or indiscriminate characterisations and were not motivated by a specific intention to insult the claimant. Equally important is the court’s recognition that the journalist could not be expected to wait until lengthy investigations had been completed and their final findings published before informing the public. According to the court, such a requirement is incompatible with the mission of the press, which is to provide timely information about current events.’
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