Athens Bar Association comes out against chief prosecutor

The board of the Athens Bar Association (DSA) has voted by a two-thirds majority to “express its absolute and categorical opposition” to the issuing and the content of a legal opinion from the country’s chief prosecutor arguing that the privacy watchdog ADAE cannot conduct audits of telecommunication companies to find out who is under surveillance by the national intelligence agency.

In a motion, the DSA also said that the government’s recent law on wiretapping for national security reasons is unconstitutional as it oversteps provisions that protect the privacy of communications.

The lawyers’ body also disputed the legality of a law transferring certain responsibilities from the ADAE, such as the power to inform citizens that they are being wiretapped.

“No state authority can prevent the ADAE from exercising its responsibilities,” the DSA said.

Earlier, sixteen prominent constitutional law professors penned a letter against the inventention of the chief prosecutor, Isidoros Dogiakos.