“Greece: Press Freedom and Defamation Laws in a Time of Crisis” offers a general overview of the legal provisions related to defamation and insult in Greece and how these provisions may affect the work of the media. While focusing overall on the question of defamation and freedom of expression, the briefing also touches on other, distinct issues under the broader umbrella of personality rights, including privacy.

Authored by Dr. Eleni Polymenopoulou of Brunel University, the report was commissioned by IPI in preparation for a joint IPI – South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) visit to Greece in November 2015.

In addition to legal analysis, the report features an interview with Kostas Vaxevanis, journalist and owner of the magazine HotDoc, who was sentenced in 2015 to 26 months in prison, suspended for three years, for defamation over an article that analysed a prominent businessman’s alleged involvement in the 2012 to 2013 Cypriot financial crisis.