Six years after a so-called Sex, Lies and Videotape scandal rocked the government of then Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, four people have been acquitted of charges they violated the privacy of former Culture Ministry general secretary Christos Zachopoulos.
An appeals court in Athens found former Culture Ministry employee Evi Tsekou, publisher Themos Anastasiadis, journalist Yiannis Makriyiannis and labor lawyer Christos Nikoloutsopoulos not guilty.
The court ruled that although Tsekou had recorded herself having sex with Zachopoulos and that Nikoloutsopoulos had taken the video to Proto Thema newspaper – where Anastasiadis and Makriyiannis copied it – that it wasn’t enough to show any privacy rights were breached.
Zachopoulos tried to commit suicide in December 2007 after learning that Tsekou had contacted the media about his extra-marital affair. “I am very happy and I have already made a new start in my life,” said Tsekou, who claimed she made the recording after being passed over for promotion.
Tsekou was accused of recording herself having sex with Zachopoulos and then, with the help of her lawyer, trying to convince media outlets to take up her story. Anastasiadis was accused of secretly copying the material and trying to pass it to the office of then Karamanlis, the New Democracy Conservative party leader.
The prosecutor suggested that Anastasiadis was using the sensitive footage as a bargaining chip with the government because he was being investigated by the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE.) The case led to Anastasiadis parting company with co-publisher Makis Triantafyllopoulos and made laughingstocks out of everyone involved.
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