Top Greek court under fire after closing wiretapping scandal case

The case file concerning the so-called “Greek Watergate” wiretapping scandal will not be reopened, the country’s Supreme Court has ruled, despite an earlier request from Athens judges to reinvestigate for potential espionage offences.

The scandal emerged in 2022, when several business figures, politicians, and journalists discovered that their phones had been infected with the illegal Predator spyware.

“In recent years, the leadership of the Greek judiciary has consistently found ways to surprise us with its speed – particularly when the exposure of a para-state mechanism that has grossly violated the rule of law is imminent,”  said Alexis Tsipras, the former prime minister.

The opposition has accused the government of orchestrating the surveillance in coordination with the intelligence services, which are under the direct authority of Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister.

For its part, the centre-right New Democracy government has insisted that the case…