Stefanos Kasselakis has a relationship of anger with the judiciary and the way it works in Greece. He makes sure not to hide it. In a loose parallel it resembles the stance of Batman, who he himself has referred to as Leftist in an interview, in his battle against either District Attorney Harvey Dent/Two-Face or Judge Dredd.
Given by the prosecutor’s investigation ordered on Tuesday (5/3) to examine whether it falls under the law on where political leaders are related to the interest-free cash service to SYRIZA by his company in the USA for internal purposes, the controversy “revived” again . “Send as many prosecutors as you want” urged the president of the official opposition bluntly in his “cold war” post, talking about two-speed Justice and selective activation of reflexes depending on the case at hand.
According to St. Kasselakis, “everything will change in the land of impunity” thanks to “all of us who have clean hands, by the power of all of you who have clean foreheads.” In general, the leader of SYRIZA confirmed, once again, that he is in a declared war with the judicial system.
The family blow
If he appeared on the political stage, the young American-inspired politician had hinted that he does not have the slightest confidence in Greek justice. Presenting himself as the candidate for president of SYRIZA, on 29/8, he publicly claimed that “the judicial circuit beat my parents and took everything they had and didn’t have”. In these fifteen words the background of what was to follow could possibly be traced.
I am aware that I have no party experience. My experience is in work, in social life. The candidacy I am now putting forward shows another path: From society and for society.
Several generations were lost. It’s time to build the Greek Dream that so… pic.twitter.com/cUejwTOany— Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis) August 29, 2023
The “teething” of the system
After all, it was his first mention, not the last. “I like – okay? But you must vote on Sunday. This is how it begins” he responded to a woman who – during his visit in September to Ioannina before the first round of internal party elections in SYRIZA – asked him to “remove the system of judges and journalists so that the country can move forward”.
His aversion to this had caused the inevitable reaction of the Union of Judges and Prosecutors who demanded his recall, from him and the party, since it “demonstrates ignorance and a lack of empathy about the functioning of Democratic Institutions”.
The immediate – and drastic – response of Stefanos Kasselakis was to stand outside the Alexandra Avenue courthouse and with a personal video mock the fact that “the trade union body of judges still exists, which I thought had abolished itself 4 years ago”.
As soon as I said that justice is the big patient, the Association of Judges and Prosecutors issued a statement against me.
I am sorry for the act.
But at the same time I am glad that the trade union body of judges still exists, which I thought had abolished itself 4 years ago. pic.twitter.com/xdz7v2n1YN— Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis) September 15, 2023
The antidote and “honest judges”
On October 10, the now leader of SYRIZA spoke to SEV, a speech that was to form the basis of the subsequent split, and he characterized, once again, justice as the “big patient of the country”. According to figures he cited, it takes an average of 1,711 days to resolve a legal dispute.
“Being first in the slow delivery of Justice does not happen by chance, you seek it and ‘work hard’ in this wrong direction”, he underlined in a mocking style about the time delays that favor the powerful and declared himself an advocate of shielding so that no one exercises the slightest influence.
The continuation, at the end of the same month, found him leaving the sidewalk of L. Alexandras, passing through the door of the building and meeting with the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adelini, on the major issue of surveillance – wiretapping.
After the end of their appointment St. Kasselakis stated that “we will be on the side of honest judges so that all citizens have the last chance of justice”, but in fact he left clear suspicions about the other part of the officials who are not doing their job well. After all, he noted that “the opposition wants a strong and independent judiciary” – that is, not a justice in its existing form.
In mid-December, Stefanos Kasselakis was speaking at an event of the Young Entrepreneurs’ Circle. Returning to the question of the administration of justice, he argued at the time that “the fact that we are in position 27 is not accidental – it is a choice. It takes effort to achieve it.”
He added that “it favors those who enter the judicial process from a position of power.” A young entrepreneur who gets stuck in court against the more powerful will not be able to compete with them.” Then he suggested staffing and digital listening as priorities.
The Rule of Law
Also a few weeks ago St. Kasselakis was quick to comment on the convening of the Administrative Plenary Session of the Supreme Court on the occasion of the resolution condemning Greece by the European Parliament for the Rule of Law.
“The supreme judges expressed their appreciation (concern?) that citizens and community institutions should not get the impression that the Rule of Law in Greece is declining due to corruption” he wrote on 2/15 and expressed with creeping irony the wish “the Justice would work so directly in the cases of our fellow citizens who are timing”, as well as in this case “we would be switzerland”.
Tempe
Finally, on the occasion of the completion of one year since the tragedy of Tempe, St. Kasselakis raised suspicions about the dependent government-judiciary relationship in order to hinder the clarification of the train accident that cost so many lives and to cover up responsibilities.
“I promise that no matter how much the Mitsotakis government ‘bases’ the investigations, no matter how much it camouflages itself in communication, in the end justice will be served”, he wrote in this regard, having been preceded a day before by the statement that “I will not take a step back. I will be with the families of the victims until the end. Until justice is served. Real justice against the veil of concealment that Mr. Mitsotakis wants to impose.”
The prime minister who, with his personal responsibility, blocked the Justice investigation into the predator, who tarnishes our country abroad with his manipulations of the rule of law, whose executives discredited the role of the commission of inquiry for the crime in Tempi, who…
— Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis) March 1, 2024
Given the pursuit of a change of agenda after the prosecutor’s investigation and the focus on everything that the Justice does not do on time and in the way that the moment requires, no one doubts that this incessant conflict will have several new episodes. There are enough open cases, anyway.
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