Αθώος ο Βαξεβάνης για τη δημοσιοποίηση της «λίστας Λαγκάρντ»

Αθώος κρίθηκε τελικά ο δημοσιογράφος Κώστας Βαξεβάνης, εκδότης του περιοδικού Hot Doc, ο οποίος είχε συλληφθεί με την κατηγορία της παραβίασης του νόμου περί προσωπικών δεδομένων για τη δημοσιοποίηση της λεγόμενης «λίστας Λαγκάρντ».
Ο Εισαγγελέας πρότεινε την καταδίκη του κ. Βαξεβάνη, αναφερόμενος σε διαπόμπευση και διασυρμό της υπόληψης των ανθρώπων που εμφανίστηκαν στη λίστα, λέγοντας ότι ο δημοσιογράφος «πέταξε στο Κολοσσαίο ανθρώπους και υπολήψεις χωρίς να τον νοιάζει αν αυτοί οι άνθρωποι είναι φοροφυγάδες ή όχι». Η εισήγηση του Εισαγγελέα, όμως, δεν έγινε δεκτή, αφού το δικαστήριο κατέληξε σε αθωωτική απόφαση.
Ο ίδιος ο Κ. Βαξεβάνης ανέφερε στην απολογία του ότι «το ότι έχεις λογαριασμό σε τράπεζα δεν είναι προσωπικό δεδομένο. Εάν υπήρχαν τα ποσά δίπλα στα ονόματα τότε θα ήταν προσωπικό δεδομένο. Υπάρχει μια ελίτ που δεν ήθελε να βγει η λίστα Λαγκάρντ στη δημοσιότητα. Παίζω πρώτο θέμα στο BBC και στο Al Jazeera και εδώ παίζω 15ο θέμα. Γιατί οι άνθρωποι που βρίσκονται στη λίστα τυπώνουνε εφημερίδες και έχουν κανάλια. Όποιος προσβλήθηκε ας προσφύγει στη Δικαιοσύνη. Θέλω να διαφυλάξετε το δικαίωμα μου να γράφω την αλήθεια».
Μετά την ανακοίνωση της απόφασης ο δημοσιογράφος μίλησε για «μια πολύ σοβαρή νομολογία που επιτρέπει στους δημοσιογράφους να κάνουν τη δουλειά τους», ενώ ευχαρίστησε τα διεθνή ΜΜΕ και τους Έλληνες δημοσιογράφους που του συμπαραστάθηκαν.

http://www.imerisia.gr/article.asp?catid=27359&subid=2&pubid=112943835

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...τα ελληνικά κανάλια δείχνουν τον ...Σουλεϊμάν

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 A Greek investigative journalist was acquitted of criminal charges Thursday after he published the names of about 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, a move that embarrassed the country's political and business elite.

Kostas Vaxevanis, the editor of the magazine Hot Doc, was charged with violating Greece's data protection law. He was arrested on Sunday, a day after his magazine published the list, and acquitted Thursday night, defense attorney Harris Ikonomopoulos said.

The names were known as the "Lagarde list," because they were given by Christine Lagarde, then French finance minister, to her Greek counterpart in August 2010. Lagarde is now the International Monetary Fund chief. Vaxevanis defended his decision to publish on the grounds that the data came from a reliable source and that it was in the public interest for it to be released.

"In the last two years various names had been thrown about," he told reporters outside the courthouse Thursday. "People had been blackmailed. Fake lists were circulated. The political system is being destabilized. There was a fake list that had half the Greek lawmakers' names on it. Doesn't this need to stop?"

While it is not illegal to hold a Swiss bank account, and there is no evidence that anyone broke the law, suspicions are high in Greece that some of those named in the list may have opened the accounts to avoid paying taxes to the Greek state.

Greek media questioned whether the failure to investigate those named for possible tax evasion might have been the result of an attempt by politicians to protect a wealthy elite. A parliamentary committee is looking into why no investigation was carried out either under former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou or his successor, Evangelos Venizelos.

The ministers said the data had been handed over to the fraud office, but officials there said they had never been formally instructed to investigate who on the list was or wasn't dodging taxes. French and German authorities, who were given similar lists, did pursue some of those named for alleged tax evasion.

Greek authorities now face public suspicion that they tried to shoot the messenger by sending Vaxevanis immediately to court, while for two years they effectively sat on the list and took no action. Ikonomopoulos said his client should have been praised for his courage in bringing the list to light rather than being taken to court.

"The Greek government needs to investigate this list and any other lists they may have their hands on," Ikonomopoulos told CNN.

"But first and foremost, the Greek government needs to reinstate effective governance, checks and balances and accountability and transparency mechanisms, in order for whatever is done to be productive," he said. "We can't afford any more injustice, we can't afford any more mismanagement and we can certainly not afford lies that are smearing public life and are delegitimizing the public personnel in total at a time we need to work together."

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/01/world/europe/greece-journalist-trial/index.html