The phrase has been attributed to Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos: \u201cJustice is like a butterfly.\u201d If you hold it tightly in your hands, you will crush it. Even if you try to touch it, even a little, you may damage its wings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ongoing, labyrinthine investigation into the tragic train crash at Tempe, central Greece, on the night of February 28, 2023, undermines its already vulnerable credibility. Justice has once again come under fire. It is called upon to balance in the crossfire between the government and the opposition, while the public views it with intense suspicion. How independent are judges in Greece? Are the leaderships of the country\u2019s top courts influenced by political power? What happens when the so-called \u201cfoundation of democracy\u201d is shaken?\u00a0Former and current supreme judges and scientists spoke to Kathimerini about these issues.<\/p>\n
The polls<\/h3>\n
A poll by Public Issue in 2007 showed that those who did not trust the Greek justice system did not exceed 44%. In 2024, this percentage shot up to 70%. In the same year, a survey by the diaNEOsis think tank \u2013 titled \u201cWhat Do Greeks Believe?\u201d \u2013 indicated that the percentage of those who expressed absolute faith in the justice system was a disappointing 6.4%. Another survey by RealPolls for the news website protagon.gr, a few days after the massive protest rallies in Greece and abroad seeking justice for the train crash (on January 26), a whopping 83% of Greeks responded that the country\u2019s justice system does not function well. What do these overwhelming results mean?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very sad, but also dangerous for the functioning of a democratic society,\u201d says former Supreme Court judge Dimitrios Kyritsakis. \u201cAll citizens have the right to maintain hope that if they are wronged, they will resort to the judge to find vindication. The fear that vindication may never come crushes all their hopes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Nikos Alivizatos, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Athens University, this development is extremely worrying. \u201cIf trust disappears and institutions are discredited, 20-somethings will resort to Molotov cocktails [like in 2008 after the murder of teen Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a police officer], while 50-somethings will resort to vigilantism,\u201d he tells Kathimerini. He believes, however, that the majority of judicial officers in Greece are dedicated to their duty. \u201cThey are not influenced by pressures from the political system or powerful economic factors. However, a disproportionate number of judges suffer from unbearable legalism, as it is convenient for them to focus on the formula more than the substance of the cases.\u201d<\/p>\n The former president of the Council of State, Sotiris Rizos, tells Kathimerini that after the January 26 demonstration seeking justice for the Tempe train disaster, the question of whether a judicial and political cover-up has been organized came to the fore again, more intensively, \u201ccreating a fury essentially against the entirety of what citizens perceive as the state. There is no separation of powers in this popular perception, which was formed after an accumulation of negative actions and omissions by the state, culminating in the killing of 57 innocent people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese events, not only are they not a threat to democratic society, but in fact they constitute, first of all, a healthy reaction to a tactic of limiting society to the role of spectator,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n According to a current member of the Council of State, who wanted to speak anonymously, the trust deficit has existed for years, but is inconsistent with reality. \u201cIn the vast majority of cases, [judicial officials] fight to deliver justice,\u201d he says. \u201cThe numbers you are referring to lead to the thought that we will become a jungle.\u201d The doubt is, on the one hand, proportional to the distrust toward the political system as a whole, and, on the other, reproduced in prominent cases, where the public sees justice moving slowly or ineffectively, he says. \u201cWhat we need to understand is that judicial decisions cannot come from the media.\u201d<\/p>\n When, on the one hand, the leader of the main opposition states that \u201ca series of cases, most notably the Tempe tragedy,\u201d have shaken his trust in the judiciary, and, on the other, the prime minister proclaims that \u201cat a time when many are directly questioning the judiciary, I have a double duty to raise a protective wall for its officials,\u201d then something is wrong. The handling of successive difficult cases \u2013 such as the Novartis scandal, the wiretapping scandal, and now the Tempe train crash \u2013 seems to be adding fuel to the fire of doubt.<\/p>\n So is the political leadership, with its actions, fueling the wave of distrust toward the judiciary? \u201cThe responsibility of politicians is not to comment positively or negatively on pending cases. Their interest should be limited to ensuring that judges have the necessary resources to assist them in their work. Shifting responsibilities onto the shoulders of judges, as the opposition does at times, is a fatal mistake that will backfire on them,\u201d says Kyritsakis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alivizatos adds that \u201cin every tragedy with many deaths, there is also the political side, which the governments of recent years have shown contempt for, or at least downplayed, to avoid the political cost. The best example of mishandling is the work of the inquiry committees that are formed in Parliament from time to time. Governments act so that the truth is not revealed.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Council of State member, in some cases the political class further undermines trust. \u201cThe opposition always criticizes decisions that are not favorable, while the government does what we call \u2018institutional engineering.\u2019 It introduces a completely new procedure to take the case away from judges who are handling something that is unpleasant for it.\u201d Public statements create more obstacles. \u201cA judge must be concetrated to make a decision. He is not in a position to deal with the opinions of a prime minister or the leader of the main opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n How independent is the leadership of the judiciary (Supreme Court, Council of State, Court of Audit) considering that in Greece it is chosen by the cabinet? But what other path of appointment is there? No one ignores the fact that Greece is in 59th place in Transparency International\u2019s Corruption Perceptions Index, both due to deficiencies in the rule of law and doubts about the degree of judicial independence.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernments do not need to justify why they prefer A, who is less qualified, to B, who is clearly superior. If one takes into account that since 1993 the positions of vice presidents of the top courts have increased to 10 each, one will understand why the influence of each government on the functioning of justice is increasing disproportionately,\u201d says Alivizatos.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rizos points out that \u201cthe top courts are formed by promoting lower-ranking judges. Therefore, meritocracy, or lack thereof, to the extent that they prevail among them, is the work of the judicial councils\u2026 the transfer of competence to other bodies is just experimentations that lead to worse dependencies, with the worst solution being election by the judges themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe leadership should be chosen from within the ranks of the judiciary,\u201d counters the anonymous member of the Council of State. \u201cWe know between us who is most capable of leading a court,\u201d he says, adding, however, that we should not overestimate the influence of top judges to their subordinates: \u201cI have never felt that my independence was threatened or that someone tried to manipulate me.\u201d<\/p>\n Judges and scientists argue that the problems plaguing the Greek judicial system \u2013 delays, too many laws, impunity \u2013 have deep roots. It takes an average of over 1,600 days to finalize a case, despite the fact that there are approximately 5,000 judges serving in the country \u2013 the largest proportion per inhabitant in the EU. Ilias Nikolaidis, content director of diaNEOsis think tank, tells us that the serious problems in justice are clearly reflected in the surveys: \u201cOnly 26.4% of the population evaluates the functioning of judicial services positively. This is the lowest percentage among the options given by this question \u2013 among them the social security funds, urban planning and the tax office. These affect many aspects of the administration of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n The delays in the administration of justice are not only the fault of the judges, says the same Council of State member. \u201cTo process a case, with dozens of boxes full of evidence, you need to invest a huge amount of hours. Often there is no assistant or judicial expert. Even the most experienced judicial official finds it very difficult to get things done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rizos agrees: \u201cEven the best judges are tested and fail when they have to deal with, on the one hand, a flood of legislation, and, on the other, an administration that serves an organized clientelistic system under the suffocating guidance of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the prevailing feeling of impunity among politicians and in view of the constitutional revision planned by the government, Alivizatos argues that the law on ministerial responsibility needs a new change. \u201cThe obsolete provision of Article 86 of the Constitution that assigns \u2013 and indeed \u2018exclusively\u2019 \u2013 the prosecution of ministerial offenses to the Parliament should be abolished.\u201d He notes, however, that the major problem is the large number of laws.<\/p>\n A top judge adds that \u201cit is not right to change the law every few months. [There are cases where] even for reasons of prestige, in order for a minister to demonstrate that he had produced work, he changes that of the previous minister, even if they come from the same party.\u201d<\/p>\n Alivizatos insists that the method of selecting top judicial officials must be modified. \u201c[It should happen] with the involvement of the president of the republic, following a recommendation by the Parliament, not with an increased majority, but with separate proposals from the coalition and the opposition for each position, and a [final] selection by the president,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kyritsakis is more blunt: \u201cIf doubt about the judges continues to be cultivated, it won\u2019t matter if God himself makes the choices \u2013 there will be no trust.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"faith-in-greek-justice-closing-in-on-rock-bottom0\"](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Alivizatos.jpg?1740683486722\")
The slow pace of justice<\/h3>\n
![\"faith-in-greek-justice-closing-in-on-rock-bottom2\"](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Kyritsakis.jpg?1740683594552\")
Independence<\/h3>\n
No lack of judges<\/h3>\n