The Athens Three-Judge Misdemeanor Court imposed sentences ranging from 8 to 20 months, suspended for three years, which found the four defendants guilty in the case involving the leak of email addresses of Greeks living abroad shortly before the 2024 European elections.
Former New Democracy MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and former Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, were sentenced to 20- and 18-month prison terms, suspended for three years, for breach of official secrecy and violation of data protection laws.
Similarly, the then Secretary for Expatriates of New Democracy, Nikos Theodoropoulos and Menios Koromilas, who was then serving as the party’s organizational secretary for Local Government and Crisis Management, were each sentenced to 8 months and 12 months, respectively, solely for violating data protection laws.
The judges found Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou guilty by a majority vote of breaching official confidentiality, with the presiding judge dissenting that she should be acquitted; however, she was unanimously found guilty of violating personal data protection. The former Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, was found guilty by a majority vote on both counts, with the presiding judge dissenting and arguing that he should be acquitted on both counts.
Nikos Theodoropoulos was unanimously acquitted of the charge of breaching official secrecy and found guilty by a majority vote (the presiding judge dissented, holding that he should be acquitted) of violating the Personal Data Protection Act, while Menios Koromilas was unanimously found guilty of violating the personal data protection law and unanimously acquitted of breaching official confidentiality.
The presiding prosecutor recommended that the mitigating factor of a law-abiding life be recognized for all the defendants, while she requested that the mitigating factor of subsequent good conduct be rejected; the court adopted her recommendation.
At a previous hearing, the presiding prosecutor, Emilia Sophia Meris, had sought a guilty verdict for Asimakopoulou and Stavrianoudaki on both counts of the indictment, stating that “they must be found guilty of both acts with which they are charged because they knew very well what they were doing.”
In contrast, he had requested the acquittal of the then-Secretary for Overseas Greeks of New Democracy, Nikos Theodoropoulos, as well as Menios Koromilas, who was then serving as the party’s organizational secretary for Local Government and Crisis Management, for breach of official confidentiality, but recommended a guilty verdict for violation of personal data protection laws.
“The file’s title makes it immediately recognizable to anyone who reads it. The origin of the list is clear. The first two defendants used the file without the intent to harm third parties. I believe they were not even aware of how it would be used, and for there to be intent to harm, they would have had to know how it would be used. “As for Koromilas and Theodoropoulos, I believe they acted as ‘messengers,’” he stated regarding the exculpatory grounds for the offense of breach of official confidentiality.
In connection with the case, the Personal Data Protection Authority had imposed fines totaling 400,000 euros on the Ministry of the Interior, 40,000 euros on New Democracy and the former Member of the European Parliament, and 10,000 euros on the former Secretary-General New Democracy’s former Secretary General for Expatriates and the party’s former Organizational Secretary for Local Government and Crisis Management. However, the Council of State subsequently overturned the fine imposed on New Democracy and upheld those imposed on the three individuals.