Appeals court convicts Kammenos of slander over CDS case

Athens’ Court of Appeal convicted Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos of slander, ordering him to pay 50,000 euros plus interest to Andrikos Papandreou, the brother of former Socialist Premier George Papandreou, whom he had accused of involvement with a firm that profited from the purchase of credit default swaps (CDS) insuring against a Greek bankruptcy.

The court found in favor in both lawsuits filed by Papandreou (in May 2011 and November 2012, respectively) and accepted that Kammenos’ repeated allegations were defamatory, insulting and threatening, according to news website mononews.gr.

The court also ordered Kammenos to pay Papandreou another 2,000 euros every time he slanders him in the future.

CDS are financial instruments that protect investors against losses in the event of a sovereign default.

Papandreou had originally sued Kammenos for 1.3 million euros for moral damages.