Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-05-19

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] FBI KEPT TABS ON ANDREAS PAPANDREOU

[02] TSOHATZOPOULOS: NO ENLARGEMENT WITHOUT CYPRUS

[03] RESHUFFLING IN OCTOBER

[04] KONSTANTOPOULOS' REACTION TO CHRISTODOULOS

[05] BROADCAST OF TRIALS FORBIDDEN

[01] FBI KEPT TABS ON ANDREAS PAPANDREOU

Andreas Papandreou was one of the two men, along with Aristotle Onasis, who were under surveillance by the FBI, according to important information, published by Alexis Papachelas in The Vima newspaper today.

Along with Onasis, the deceased PASOK founder and leader for 22 years is the second Greek on which there are dusty boxes filled with reports by agents, informants and bureau notes.

The Vima asked for the declassification of documents concerning A. Papandreou, and it managed to secure 1000 pages. A large number of them is still classified, because it contains delicate information on how American agents worked. The names of the informants have also been stricken so that their identity is not revealed, but it is obvious that many Greek-Americans, possibly some of his comrades, were FBI informants. Information on impending assassination attempts on Andreas Papandreou and the recording of his statements in case any subversive comments were made, make up a rather interesting puzzle.

It seems that Hoover had personally given the order of putting him under surveillance. During the 1965-66 period, their goal was to find out if Andreas had any connections to the American Communist Party. During the 1967-74 period, his resistance activities were placed under the microscope of FBI agents, while the incredible fact is that investigations into his connections in the US continued until 1976, two years after he had returned to Greece.

[02] TSOHATZOPOULOS: NO ENLARGEMENT WITHOUT CYPRUS

There is no enlargement of the European Union without Cyprus, stated Minister of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos, who noted that with Cyprus' accession the geopolitical environment for safety and political cooperation in the region will change dramatically.

He called Turkey to take advantage of this new beneficial environment and open its own path towards Europe, which he foresaw would be long and hard.

Concerning criticism from New Democracy aimed at Prime Minister Kostas Simitis delayed informing of political leaders on national interest issues, he observed: ND is used to nagging and I wonder why, since it has been telling us for some time that we do not have to do anything as the government will drop like a ripe fruit. Perhaps it did not want us to wake it from the sober slumber it has been in all this time, simply waiting for this supposed fall of government, but perhaps they were disappointed, and that is why they are reacting in the way they are.

[03] RESHUFFLING IN OCTOBER

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, according to Vima newspaper sources, has decided to move to a reshuffling immediately following the municipal and prefectural elections. At a ministerial level certain internal replacements will take place, but there will be a significant renewal at a deputy minister level, whose number may greatly increase so that there is better representation of electoral districts and absorbing any of the MPs' complaints.

[04] KONSTANTOPOULOS' REACTION TO CHRISTODOULOS

An unprovoked attack, of a sycophantic, political and ideological character was the way President of the Coalition of the Left Nikos Konstantopoulos, characterized the criticism on his person by Archbishop Christodoulos, who in an interview to the Sunday Eleftherotypia, referred to Mr. Konstantopoulos as a fundamentalist of atheism, and stated that he was prepared to apologize for calling him an idolater if he stopped scorning the people's religious conviction.

Furthermore, Mr. Konstantopoulos stressed that during the dictatorship those of us who found ourselves in jails, military courts, exiled and in penal servitude had Papagiorgis Pirounakis by our side, a martyr and comrade, during the same era when Mr. Christodoulos was studying, not seeing, hearing, or learning of what was happening in the land he is bragging about today. Everyone is judged. That is the truth that bothers Mr. Christodoulos.

[05] BROADCAST OF TRIALS FORBIDDEN

The television broadcast of trials has been finally and irreversibly forbidden and all camera crews have been ushered out of the court rooms.

At the same time, according to a Sunday Eleftherotypia newspaper publication, the same goes of the infamous hidden camera, a must in this new type of television journalism. Also, security measures for both minor offenders and witnesses as well as adult defendants will be extended. Despite standing legislature, defendants are still taken to the district attorneys' and magistrates' offices with the fear of televised humiliation.

This whole package of adjustments and changes aims at adapting Greek television reality, at least from a judicial point of view, to the European standards.

According the opinion of the members of the Justice Ministry's committee on new regulations, the present rule allowing trials to be broadcast and taped, unless the defendant is against it, will be changed and receive a more prohibiting character.

After the enforcement of the new regulations, the taping and broadcasting of public or closed hearings will be forbidden, while there will be a penalty for anyone violating the regulation.

There are however two provisions, which may create misunderstandings and a loophole to go around these rules: Television broadcast of the trial will only be allowed from now on, if all parties involved in the trial, meaning the DA, the defendant, etc. give their consent, or if the court judges that it is in the trial is of serious public interest.

Distinguished judicial authorities commented that important trials of public figures concerning serious state issues, which interest public opinion, such as the Special Court on the Koskotas scandal, will most probably be excepted from the general prohibiting rule. In fact, such is the practice in Europe today, as in the broadcast of the Slobodan Milosevic trial at the Hague.

In contrast, trials which are purely private, or trials involving known criminals or show biz figures, are not related to public interest.

What may be allowed, always after discussion with the judges and with the consent of the defendant, is the recording of some shots inside the court room before the trial starts, and of the defendant during the trial breaks.

The obvious goal of these new regulations is the gradual eviction of television from within the courtroom, and not the rest of the media, based on the standards of almost all the countries of the EU, where the dispensation of television justice is forbidden.

Ministry officials commented, it is not possible in the year 2002 to have trials take place, under circumstances of television cannibalism, which is only interested in air time and percentages, not the pursuit of truth.

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