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George Papahristos, a journalist of Ta Nea newspaper, who had been arrested in the city of Ioannina because of a defamation complaint filed at the police station of the neighbourhood of Vouliagmeni in Athens by the leader of Independent Greeks, Panos Kamenos, was released on Sunday afternoon.

Panos Kamenos had requested the arrest of the journalist in connection with his publication in the Saturday issue of the newspaper. Although the complaint had been field in Athens, the police were quick in finding the journalist in his hometown where he had gone to visit his mother. Following the midnight exchange of information the police arrested him early on Sunday morning.

The journalist was brought before the prosecutor of the city of Ioannina and subsequently released as the complaint had been filed in Athens and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the Athens prosecutor's office.

Following the decision of the local prosecutor's office in Ioannina to annul the arrest, the file will be transferred to the prosecutor's office in Athens.

"Panos Kamenos’ complaint is a matter of honour for me. I will tell the rest in the courtroom," said George Papahristos upon leaving the prosecutor's office in Ioannina.

The sports publication that has provoked the complaint reads as follows:
 
... "On the occasion of accidentally meeting the head of the "Panos Kamenos & Co Independent Greeks" party, Panos Kamenos in the courtroom the other day, (who is also the defendant in a civil claim against him, again because of the case of Postbank’s risk premiums, in which Andrikos Papandreou has been already sentenced),  I have taken a forgotten case out of the archives. It is about a list of "political figures under observation from the office combating economic crimes," in which the name of the honourable chairman is listed under number 7.

As noted, the case involves an investigation "by order of the prosecutor’s office" and a request to the office combating economic crimes to proceed to the "opening of the accounts" of the chairman in question. The document is dated 29 August 2012.

What is my point? It is no different from the obvious one, namely, "What is the progress of this investigation at present and what has followed it if it is over?" It is also the fact that this was a financial "prosecutor's order" or namely the order of Prosecutor Grigoris Peponis who leader Panos Kamenos, as well as all of us, know!

To avoid the creation of a false impression I hasten to clarify that the investigation was ordered before the two men became friends and before Mr. Peponis was tempted by the idea of ​​entering politics through the "Panos Kamenos & Co Independent Greeks" party.

This is how these things happen. All great loves are born in a moment of collision..."

In connection with the case, the Independent Greeks party came up with the following message:

On Saturday, 12 October, the chairman of the Independent Greeks party, Panos Kamenos, filed a defamation complaint against George Papahristos, a journalist of Ta Nea newspaper, because of the false and defamatory publications about Panos Kamenos that the journalist has repeatedly published in the newspaper in which he is working. Civil claims for defamation through the press have been filed against the journalist four times, because of their content.

In addition, other false and defamatory publications by George Papahristos had been refuted as evidenced by the press releases of Independent Greeks and by the documents attached to the complaint."

In a statement, the Journalists Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers reacted strongly against George Papahristos’ arrest:

The Management Board of the Journalists Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers vehemently protests against the arrest in Ioannina of journalist George Papahristos, who is a member of the Union. The previous night, the chairman of Independent Greeks, Panos Kamenos, had filed a defamation complaint in connection with George Papahristos’ article published in Saturday's issue of Ta Nea newspaper.

In recent years it has become common practice to criminalize journalism by filing piles of complaints and civil claims against journalists before those concerned resort to other means. Panos Kamenos, for example, could have published his views in the newspaper or, if he believes that journalistic ethics have been violated, he could have turned to the Union’s disciplinary authority with the request to set the record straight.
 
Finally, even if the case reaches the courtroom, the "zeal" demonstrated by the police, who had rushed to the hotel in Ioannina where George Papahristos had been staying, to arrest him as if he is an ordinary criminal, is striking.