Photo: iefimerida.gr
The private Hill School that both children of the former Greek Prime Minister are attending has sent an extrajudicial invitation to the father of another student in connection with the dissemination of photos of Alexis Tsipras’ partner Peristera Baziana on the first day of school.
The school requires that professional photographer Vassilis Koutroumanos, who was in the schoolyard to accompany his 7-year-old daughter, assumes responsibility for the dissemination of the photos.
In the invitation, which the Greek online edition protothema.gr has revealed, the members of the school leadership state, "According to the testimonies of teachers and many parents, the photos taken outside the building that houses the pre-school and that show other parents are taken precisely by you. One of them even shows one of the students. The photos have been disseminated by many sites and shown on television, which has irritated many parents who have complained to us."
Having warned that taking photos of parents in the schoolyard and disseminating them without their explicit consent is an illegal action, Hill School emphasizes that this violates its prestige.
"In view of the above, we firmly oppose your actions and reserve every legal right, declaring that any damage that we might suffer due to your fault would be your responsibility. Furthermore, we urge you to avoid taking similar photos and posting photos related to Hill School, and stress that the possible recurrence of such actions will put at risk any kind of cooperation with you."
The Greek media comment that the school is apparently under pressure in connection with the dissemination of the photos and therefore its leadership is attempting to transfer the responsibility to the photographer in such a hasty manner.
It is a significant fact that other parents in the schoolyard have also taken photos of their children and the parents around them but Hill School has preferred to blame this particular father who is a photo reporter. Moreover, the charges against him are based only on the "testimonies of teachers and many parents" and there is no concrete evidence in their favour. On the other hand, the partner of the recent Prime Minister is a public figure and taking photos of her cannot be defined as "an illegal act".
"Maybe the reason for all this is the fact that the dissemination of the photos has made the Greek public aware that Mr. Tsipras’ children are attending an expensive private school," the Greek media comment.
This is not the first case in which members of the former government attack and threaten the media. Yesterday, SYRIZA former deputy minister Christos Spirtzis told a journalist that if he needed a permit to exercise his profession, he would have deprived him of it. Spirtzis made this comment in connection with a journalist's question about the scandal associated with former Minister of State and coordinator of SYRIZA’s government policy Alekos Flambouraris.