Culture Minister slams theater chief
As reports of sexual harassment proliferate, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni described the former artistic director of the National Theater, Dimitris Lignadis, as a “dangerous man” who “deceived her.”
She also filed a report to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court, requesting a full investigation.
“Dimitris Lignadis is a dangerous man. This is what has become apparent now,” she said in an extraordinary press conference on Friday in the wake of developments sparked by a flurry of allegations of harassment implicating prominent theater figures.
Lignadis, 56, resigned from his post on February 6, denying that the rumors about sexual misconduct had anything to do with him.
However, Mendoni, who accepted his resignation, lashed out against him on Friday. “From the moment the rumors started, we pressed him hard to tell us the truth. He deceived us, he deceived me. Acting, he tried to convince us that he had nothing to do with all this, that the rumors do not concern him,” she said.
“Sexual violence is a horrific and shameful affair,” she said, adding that “we are a state of laws, and that is why we are moving forward via the institutional path, justice.”
However, she was denounced by opposition parties, not least SYRIZA for “taking 20 days to discover that Lignadis was dangerous.” The party claimed that Lignadis was her personal friend that she had tried to protect him.
