Editorial Ta Nea: Anomaly

The charges made by those close to former Corruption Crimes Prosecutor Eleni Raikou have little to do with a democratic regime, and even less with the rule of law.

Individuals in the prosecutor’s circle speak of the constant interventions of a minister, who is described as “Rasputin”, and who “with the demeanour of a pimp dictates how cases should be handled”.

Indeed, when she protested that the preconditions for prosecution have not been met, he exerted insufferable pressures. “Rasputin” is said to have declared, “You go ahead and prosecute and let them proceed to be acquitted down the line.”This is a very serious charge, and it comes on the heels of the complaints of the union of judges and prosecutors that the government marshals various means not only to manipulate the judiciary, but also to supplant it for political gain.

It appears that the remarks of Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis to SYRIZA’s central committee about the perceived need for some people to go to jail in order for the party to win the next election are not merely a rhetorical turn of phrase, as he later claimed.

The statement has an extra-institutional depth. It was simply a public expression of a perception about the operation of institutions that is usually expressed behind the scenes, if not in the dark.

Democracy, however, does not function well in the dark. On the contrary, that breeds conditions of democratic anomaly.

That is why it is necessary to shed light on this enormous violation of the separation of powers by individuals who in their oath of office vowed to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land.