Three huge cases have tested the country's belief in its judicial structures over the past couple of years. Two of them are related to disasters: A train crash in February 2023 that killed 57, and a shipwreck off Greece's Peloponnesian coast last summer that left hundreds of Asian and African migrants presumed drowned.
The other is a sprawling spyware scandal that has embroiled the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Last week, a supreme court prosecutor cleared the country's politicians, police and intelligence services of wrongdoing.
In isolation, these may look like the type of unfortunate incidents that any government might have to deal with.
But their handling has raised disturbing questions. Opposition parties, victims groups and independent investigators talk of cover-ups and allege crucial witnesses were blocked, legal documents were ignored and victims sidelined. Parliamentary probes have done little but muddy the waters.
"By giving a deceptive impression of a well-functioning democracy, with parliamentary inquiry committees unable to effectively conduct their work, what is actually happening sometimes amounts to direct political meddling and the neutralizing of independent watchdogs' members," said Vas Panagiotopoulos, who covers Greece for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a non-profit organization that defends press freedoms.
Beyond the biggest examples, Greeks perceive that public standards have eroded, whereby verbal attacks on journalists from high-ranking politicians have become commonplace, independent authorities are undermined, several migrant pushbacks have been alleged, police brutality is increasing, and civil society and media pluralism is under threat.
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