supreme judges, according to “K”public statement by the Vice President of the Supreme Court Christos Tsanerikoswith which he criticized the government’s legislation on Kasidiari party.

After a backlash, a senior judicial official resigned from the judiciary yesterday, about three months before he was due to resign, declaring, according to people close to him, “calm and liberated.” The amendment being promoted by the government exacerbates the already acute political confrontation associated with the pre-election period. “Those who will not vote for the amendment turn a blind eye to golden dawn. I appeal to all the democratic forces of the country with an appeal to finally agree. Let’s put aside any of our differences and realize that this issue is the core issue of democracy,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said yesterday while “photographing” SYRIZA, and a response from Mr. Alexis Tsipras is expected in parliament today.

“The Next Day” in the Supreme Court

Joanna Mandrow

Following a sharp reaction to Supreme Court Vice President Christos Tzanerikos’s public statement about the government’s amendment to the trial of the Kasidiaris party, the top court official resigned yesterday, about three months before his retirement. as he leaves June 30th.

Christos Janerikos, who until yesterday was the president of his judicial formation Supreme Court who will judge the participation of parties in the upcoming elections and, first of all, the electoral fate of the Kasidiaris party, made a public comment criticizing the government legislation, which is being voted on in parliament today.

The Chief Justice described in his statement as “unprecedented interference in the affairs of the Supreme Court” and as evidence of the “distrust and lack of confidence of the government in him” an amendment allowing all judges of the A1 division of the Supreme Court to participate in decisive decisions, and not just five, as was done before so far.

Reactions

The public position of Tsanerikos, in addition to the political reaction (Minister of the Interior Makis Voridis said that the parliament makes laws, not judges), caused a flurry of reactions in the legal world, as well as in the judiciary. In addition to Evangelos Venizelos, who demanded the immediate release of Mr. Tzanerikos from his duties, he was also criticized by other constitutionalists, while the atmosphere in the judiciary was very difficult.

According to the information that available for “K”the supreme judges, whether they were involved in the aforementioned Department of the Supreme Court or in other judicial entities, viewed Tzanerikos’s public position as an indirect communication of his judicial voice, which was never in the judicial record.

According to the law, the oldest Areopagite will take over the chairmanship in the relevant section of the court – “He feels calm and liberated,” Mr. Tsanerikos’s entourage notes.

Of course, the retired vice president himself, as – say his interlocutors “K”., after his resignation, which was formal, without any references or outbursts, stated that “he did not judge the law, but the bill to be adopted”, failing, however, to substantiate that the said bill directly related to the formation of the judiciary, of which he was president in a decisive electoral process. In any case, the tense atmosphere in the judiciary and especially in Division A1 of the Supreme Court was a decisive factor in Mr. Tzanerikos’ decision to step down, which rarely happens in the justice sector.

Procedures

Following the resignation of the vice-president of the Supreme Court – and given that the process in the Supreme Court to determine the legitimacy of the parties that will take part in the upcoming elections is immediate – the presidency of the disputed Department, according to the law, will take over the most senior Areopagite. This is Evdokia Kiup-tsidou, who is part of the said Department, which includes a total of ten chief judges and its vice president.

However, after the resignation of Mr. Tzanerikos, there is no provision for a replacement by another vice president, except for the most senior Areopagite, and if today an amendment to increase the number of judges who will vote for the participation of parties in the elections is adopted in parliament, then, according to information from K ”, some practical problems may arise in the event of a tie, i.e. five judges vote “for” and five “against”.

Then it will be accepted as told “K” sources in courtany vote of the chairman is dubbed.

If he changes his mind?

However, one more question remains, connected – even theoretically – with the possibility of Mr. Tzanerikos to change his mind and return to his duties, since the procedure applicable to politicians is not followed regarding the resignation of judges with the acceptance of the Prime Minister. For judges, the application for resignation is not accepted and is deferred until a month has passed from the date of its submission, so that the retiring judge can leave if he so wishes. However, information from the environment of Mr. Tsanerikos says that he has made a decision and “feels calm and liberated.” It should be noted that any decision for the Kasidiaris party, as well as for other parties, is expected to be made no later than the evening of May 5, when the relevant deadline expires. However, told “K” sources in court that the most important thing is “the rationale for the decision on the electoral fate of the Kasidiaris party, since it is very likely, as they indicated, that there will be a repeated election campaign, so that the issue can be raised again and, possibly, with different data.”

In “red” – political confrontation

George Burdaras

Today’s final session of Parliament is expected to be held in a very tense atmosphere before it closes in front of the ballot boxes on 21 May. At the center is legislation that the government claims further covers up an already enacted provision that puts up barriers to electoral participation by criminal organizations wearing the mantle of a political party.

This issue, which practically now concerns the party of the former gold digger H. Kasidiaris, who is serving a sentence for participation in a criminal organization, ignites a fierce confrontation between N.D. and SYRIZA, in which since yesterday the Prime Minister has taken the lead with his statements, as well as the leader of the official opposition, whose new intervention is expected in Parliament today.

“Under normal circumstances, this issue should unite all democratic forces,” Mr. Mitsotakis from Thessaloniki emphasized yesterday and, among other things, added, “photographing” SYRIZA, which did not even vote for the previous agreement: “In Parliament, each and every one of them responsibility. Those who will not vote for this amendment are the same people who finally turn a blind eye to the Golden Dawn. I appeal to all the democratic forces of the country with an appeal to finally agree. Let’s put aside any of our differences and realize that this issue is the core issue of democracy.” Yesterday, the main opposition party mentioned that Koumunduru could only debate based on his own proposal or someone else’s, such as constitutional expert Mr. Alivisatos. Otherwise, he will not vote positively for the government’s proposal.

It is noted that the “legal technical” disagreements between the two main parties, yesterday in parliament, quickly took on the character of a fierce political confrontation, while N.D. and SYRIZA to accuse each other of which of the two is the biggest “sponsor” of the Cassidiaris phenomenon and which of the two headquarters is planning its actions in order to get closer to those who, for reasons of “protest against the system” and not fascist views, declare, that they intend to vote for the party of the former deputy leader of the Golden Dawn.

PASOK proposals

PASOK says it will vote in favor of the regulation, although it has submitted proposals for legal technical improvements through Mr Castanidis, so it claims the new legislative initiative will receive substantial institutional support. In particular, referring to the risk that the promoted regulation will not be implemented due to the rules applicable to the functioning of an independent judiciary, Mr. Castanidis suggested: to provide either “how the Plenum of the Supreme Court will decide when issues of criminal organizations should be decided , and only in this case” or “after the decision of the five-member composition of section A’ should be given the opportunity to file an objection with any administrative authority”, because this activates the constitutional provision (Article 100 of the Constitution), according to which “on a conflict between the courts and administrative authorities shall irrevocably issue a decision of the Higher Special Court”.

In response to this, Mr. Voridis said, among other things: “These are thoughts that are quite justified, we will see them a little further, and by the time of the plenary session (for today), I think we will have the final position of the government”, thus leaving a window open for some changes to the amendment under consideration.

Left

The KKE and MeRA25 emphasize that they intend to vote against the current amendment as well, arguing that such rulings could be directed against other communist and “anti-systemic” parties of the left. The Greek decision seems to take a negative view of government manipulation.