Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis has said there is no question of expelling former New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou from New Democracy after her conviction over the leak of diaspora voter data, describing the treatment of those involved as ranging from “the hypocritical to the ridiculous.”
Marinakis said the case, which resulted in Asimakopoulou receiving a suspended 20-month prison sentence on Monday, had “nothing to do with the election process” and did not threaten the integrity of the 2024 European Parliament elections.
Asimakopoulou and three co-defendants were convicted over the transfer and use of an Interior Ministry database containing 25,500 email addresses of Greeks living abroad for campaign purposes. The three others received suspended sentences of up to 18 months.
“At a political level we are talking about an email,” Marinakis said. “Treating these people this way for an email, in an age when we receive messages and emails from unknown profiles every day … and treating these people as drug dealers, as white slavers, and I don’t know what else, ranges from the hypocritical to the ridiculous.”
He stressed that the presumption of innocence still applied pending appeal and said there was no question of expelling Asimakopoulou from New Democracy.
