At the beginning of autumn, against the backdrop of wiretapping revelations, three police officers entered the Communications Privacy Authority (ADAE). They asked the staff of the Independent Entity to check if their phones were under monitoring. In addition, they were preceded by a series of events that disturbed them. These included the pursuit by the security police of a car moving suspiciously near the house of one of them.

The car without police markings was stopped and, as it turned out, belonged to the internal affairs body. It is a service that seems to be playing a key role in what has been going on in the ranks of the Greek police and the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection in recent weeks. He resigns with his head after a long tenure at the helm of the agency.

Anonymous complaints written by police officers against their colleagues, covert surveillance without the permission of the competent judiciary, and a prosecutor’s proposal that leads to a months-long investigation of the so-called “corrupt” members of EL.AS. in “Personal Differences Within Police Officers” make up a police thriller, the unknown details of which “K” is revealing today.

The case began to unfold in August 2020, when the police officers of the Internal Affairs Directorate detained two of their colleagues, employees of the Office of Official Security, in the process of self-immolation. At that time, the head of this Directorate was the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Officers (POAXIA), Yiannis Katsiamakas, who a year later, before the case was clarified, was demobilized during the next crises of the corps. His subordinate officers were charged with dereliction of duty on the grounds that they were seen using official vehicles for personal travel. According to the official version, two anonymous complaints of similar content became the reason for the investigation. Two policemen were reported that “they take official cars and use them as personal ones for personal needs.”

The Interior Police Services made two requests for the use of special technical means (including hidden cameras), but the Athenian Appellate Prosecutor rejected them, considering that the conditions were not met. A few days after the prosecutor’s refusal, the “incorruptibles” received a new anonymous statement about the involvement of the police officers under investigation in the “protection” of the stores. Based on the third anonymous complaint in weeks, the prosecutor finally agreed to sign a warrant for secret videotaping of the two officers.

official cars

In early autumn, three officers approached ADAE asking them to check if their phones were being tracked.

Subsequent covert surveillance showed that between August and December 2020, officers did indeed use their service vehicles for several days to travel from home to duty station and back. That the leaders of EL.AS. this is considered a common practice, which, however, can hardly justify the criminal prosecution of officers, and even with an automatic procedure. This was confirmed, moreover, by the course of not only a criminal, but also a disciplinary investigation against them. In July 2021, the prosecutor of first instance, in his submission, stated that “no criminal act has been established.” He also left scathing remarks to those who conducted the investigation, noting that “the filing and intense publicity of this complaint is doubtful because, in combination with its anonymous nature, it creates a reasonable suspicion that it could arise from clashes or even personal differences within “. tricks of the police to create an impression.” And the ordered EDEs were registered, and the senior officers who handled the case came to the conclusion (in the summer of 2022) either that the charges were not confirmed, or that there were “minor” disciplinary violations.

Meanwhile, the then head of the Office for the Protection of Officials and warden of the two defendants, Yiannis Katsiamakas, was demobilized in the next crises of 2021. By a curious coincidence, in fact, the internal affairs officers called him to give a statement on the day of his demobilization.

New Match.

However, the events and coincidences in the case do not end there. In February 2022, a relative of one of the police officers initially prosecuted saw a suspiciously moving car near the family’s home on the outskirts of Athens. He became worried and called the local security department, and also left the house and tried to stop him by stepping forward with his body. The driver of the car, while trying to escape, increased the speed (a criminal case was initiated on this fact). Based on eyewitness accounts, local security officials were able to locate and stop the vehicle just before it entered Attiki Odos. However, during the check it turned out that his passengers were police officers. Telephone conversations took place at the scene, and the incident was considered settled.

In the fall of 2022, the wiretapping case became a central issue in the news. Also thwarted was EPM’s disclosure of PASOK President Nikos Androulakis’ phone surveillance and a series of publications about spying on dozens of targets, either through a wiretapping system or illegal Predator software. Combining what had been done earlier between late 2020 and early 2022 with revelations of cell phone surveillance, the three officers filed a request with ADAE in October to see if their phone connections had been declassified. The test results cannot be shared with them.