The Association of Judges and Prosecutors has slammed calls by the US State Department towards the Greek government to overturn a court decision which allowed the conditional release of the mastermind of the defunct guerrilla group November 17.
“It is one of those rare times when a Ministry of Foreign Affairs of another state attempts to intervene openly in our country’s justice system, although it is well aware of the meaning of the separation of powers,” the union said in a press release.
“We do not know if in the US it is now customary for the government to annul judicial decisions, however, democracy in Greece and the inherent separation of powers assigns the responsibility for assessing the conditions for the conditional release of prisoners, for any crime, regardless of whether they are held in prison, exclusively to the judiciary,” it added.
“We strongly protest this unfortunate announcement and expect support for the judicial system from the entire political world.
Giotopoulos, 82, who had been incarcerated since 2002 for his role in the group, was granted conditional release last week, a decision a Supreme Court prosecutor is now seeking to overturn.
