The Greek Supreme Court acquitted Vatopedi Monastery abbot Ephraim, the monk Arsenios and justice Maria Psalti of charges relating to a delay in publicly announcing the ruling of a Rodopi first-instance court. The court had found in favor of the state in a case against the monastery concerning the ownership of Lake Vistonida and its shoreline but the ruling was not announced after the two sides came to an out-of-court settlement.
Based on the initial conviction, the judge had acted improperly by failing to officially post the court's ruling after the decision was reached and allowing the two sides to reach an agreement when the court had already ruled in favor of the state.
The Supreme court reversed a suspended sentence of six months imprisonment handed down Psalti, Abbot Ephraim and the monk by a lower court, acquitting them of charges of breach of duty and instigating breach of duty.
It judged that the conviction lacked the adequate reasoning to back it up, contained unclear points, lacked a legal basis and mistakenly interpreted the application of the law. On this basis, it ruled that no criminal act had been committed and both the justice and the two monks should be acquitted of the charges.
The decision to revoke the convictions was opposed by the Supreme Court's deputy prosecutor, who judged the conviction legal and the reasoning behind it valid.
On a related charge concerning a breach of confidentiality of the judges' conference on the case, for which the three accused had also been convicted, the Supreme Court ruled that by overturning the first conviction against the judge there was no case of breach of confidentiality by simply relaying the judges' final decision without the accompanying reasoning.
Revealing this decision is thus no longer an offense punishable under the law, since it is information that will be included in the decision that will subsequently be published, the court found. (AMNA)
Read more about this case and how it was used as a means to topple the government of Costas Karamanlis in 2008 by clicking here.
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