Prosecutor to probe alleged surveillance of journalist
The head of the Athens Prosecutor’s Office, Sotiria Papageorgopoulou, on Monday ordered a preliminary investigation into the alleged surveillance of a Greek journalist.
The action comes after investigative news outlet Inside Story revealed that Thanasis Koukakis, a CNN Greece financial editor and contributor to other outlets, discovered his mobile phone had been hacked by Predator spyware, from July 12 to September 24, 2021.
He was informed of the hacking after requesting the assistance of Toronto-based digital rights group the Citizen Lab in late March. The Citizen Lab reportedly added that it could not confirm whether the spyware was used by the Greek government or a private company.
A few days later, investigative outlet Reporters United alleged it had seen documents showing Koukakis was also under surveillance by Greek state intelligence service EYP a year before the hacking.
