Ex-minister files lawsuit at the human rights court

Lawyers representing former Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos said on Wednesday that their client has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that his right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty has been violated following allegedly incriminating statements by two conservative MPs.
Earlier this month, Parliament voted for the indictment of Tsochatzopoulos, who has been accused of accepting bribes in connection with the purchase of four German submarines by the Hellenic Navy a decade ago. Since then Parliament’s defense procurement committee has deepened a probe into the deal. Vassilis Heirdaris and Leonidas Kotsalis told a press conference that the former minister’s appeal was not related to the essence of the case but to “certain misdemeanors.” They claim that two New Democracy deputies, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and Argyris Dinopoulos, allegedly made incriminating statements about the ex-minister before a parliamentary committee had issued its report, thereby “harming Tsochatzopoulos’s right to be presumed innocent.”