Greek intelligence eavesdropping on military leadership: Report
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Left-wing weekly newspaper Documento publishes a list of 14 individuals who were reportedly spied on by Greek intelligence using Predator spyware.
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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Reuters)
Left-wing weekly newspaper Documento unmasked that Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) has been eavesdropping on a number of high-ranking military personnel on the orders of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Documento published a list of 14 individuals who were reportedly spied on by Greek intelligence using Predator spyware.
According to the publication, the EYP has been monitoring the country's military leadership, notably Hellenic National Defense General Staff Chief Konstantinos Floros and Greek Army General Staff Chief Charalambos Lalousis.
The EYP had also targeted other prominent figures, including several businessmen, a Greek member of the European Parliament, and journalists, according to the newspaper.
Syriza, one of Greece's biggest opposition parties, had earlier said it had asked the prime minister for a response to the newspaper's report, adding that the present controversy was one of "the worst moments in Greek history."
Simultaneously, Greek government spokesperson Ioannis Oikonomou slammed the report, calling it "a mishmash of baseless claims."
Greece has been mired in a wiretapping crisis for a number of months now when the government acknowledged that Nikos Androulakis, a member of the European Parliament and the head of the Greek opposition party Panhellenic Socialist Movement, had been being wiretapped by the EYP.
Four lists of individuals who have reportedly been spied on by the Greek security services have already been published by Documento in recent weeks.
The names of significant individuals on these lists include former prime minister Antonis Samaras, state ministers Giorgos Gerapetritis and Akis Skertsos, as well as Nikos Dendias and other officials.
A flashback
The "wire-tapping scandal" broke in July when Nikos Androulakis, an MEP and leader of the Socialist party (PASOK), complained over alleged attempts to tap his mobile phone using Predator spyware.
Within days, it was revealed that Androulakis had been under separate observation by the national espionage agency before becoming leader of PASOK, the country's third-largest party. Two journalists and another senior opposition politician also claim to have been spied on.
The scandal forced the resignations in August of the intelligence agency boss and of a close aide and nephew to the Prime Minister.
The government has categorically rejected the use of illegal spying software. It has, however, admitted that the state intelligence service tracked Androulakis, without explaining why.
Mitsotakis has pledged to bring in a law banning the sale of malevolent spyware. Critics point out, however, that one of his first moves as Prime Minister in 2019 was to link the national intelligence service to his personal office.
At the time, a European Parliament committee looking into wiretaps in Greece and other European Union countries asked for a more thorough inquiry.
