2
KONSTAS v. GREECE JUDGMENT
7. From 1985 he was a professor of international relations at the
Panteion University in Athens. From 1990 to 1995 he was President of the
University. At the time of the 1996 general elections the applicant was
appointed Press Minister ad interim. From 1997 to 1999 he was Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Council of Europe.
8. In September 1998 an administrative investigation into the pre-1997
financial management of the Panteion University was ordered by the
university authorities. The resulting report was submitted to the public
prosecutor at the Athens Court of Appeal, who brought criminal
proceedings against fifty-four members of the University’s teaching staff
who had been President or Vice-President in the period 1992 to 1998,
including Mr Konstas. The applicant was charged with being an accomplice
to forgery, defrauding the State of more than fifty million drachmas
(approximately 146,000 euros (EUR)), misrepresentation and
misappropriation of public funds. By decision of the public prosecutor at the
Athens Court of Appeal, he and eighteen other accused were immediately
committed to stand trial (summons no. 2284/2005). The case attracted
considerable media attention.
9. On 7 September 2005 the Indictment Division of the Athens Court of
Appeal endorsed the public prosecutor’s decision and decided to drop the
criminal charges against some of the accused. As to the applicant, it
considered that he had “played a major role in the commission of the
offences” (decision no. 1969/2005).
...
12. On 6 June 2007 the Athens Assize Court sentenced the applicant and
nine others to 14 years’ imprisonment for misappropriation of public funds,
fraud against the State and misrepresentation (judgment no. 2444/2007).
Mr Konstas immediately appealed and the Athens Assize Court ordered a
stay of execution of his sentence pending the judgment on appeal.
...
14. On 11 June 2007, during a plenary debate in the Greek Parliament,
the Deputy Minister of Finance referred to the proceedings in question,
stating that certain opposition MPs had been heard by the Athens Assize
Court as witnesses for the defence. In particular, he said:
“Who are these incorruptible people? The denigrators, the renowned MPs of the
Socialist Party (PASOK) and former PASOK Ministers who rushed to the defence of
the Panteion bunch of crooks? Were they or were they not your personal and political
friends? Didn’t you appoint them acting Ministers for the Press, Ministers
Plenipotentiary to the Council of Europe, when the Panteion scandals were coming to
light? They were your friends, dear colleagues, and you hastened to defend them
before the Parliament. You even steal from each other. According to the
newspaper ’To Vima’, your friends even stole money from Mr Simitis [a former Prime
Minister]!”
15. On 2 July 2007, during a plenary debate in Parliament, the Prime
Minister referred to the case saying that it was “an unprecedented scandal of