Journalist arrested following legal suit lodged by ex-PM
Journalist Costas Vaxevanis was arrested on Monday following a legal suit lodged against him by former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras for defamation.
Shortly before his arrest, an appeals court in Athens had exonerated him over another defamation suit against him brought by Lina Nikolopoulou, the wife of Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.
On Sunday, Samaras sued Vaxevanis, who is the publisher of the Documento newspaper, over a Facebook post last week in which he accused the former leader of New Democracy of lying about his involvement in the Novartis case.
A close associate of Samaras described the post as “vulgar and provocatively insulting.”
He also accused Vaxevanis of acting on “orders.” Meanwhile, Nikolopoulou decried the court’s decision to acquit Vaxevanis as wrong.
“The decision is obviously wrong,” she said, adding that it raises questions about the court’s impartiality and judgment.
