Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis hit back sharply at Alexis Tsipras, accusing the former prime minister of trying to hold the government responsible for cases of illegality which, he said, are being uncovered by the competent authorities and oversight bodies.
“It would be amusing, if it were not truly infuriating, for a former prime minister to try to pin on the government cases of illegality uncovered by the competent authorities during its time in office,” Mr Marinakis said.
The government spokesman accused Mr Tsipras of trying to portray the revelations as evidence of the government’s guilt, rather than acknowledging the work of the oversight bodies.
“Instead of acknowledging that the oversight bodies are doing their job, more than ever before, he is trying, in an extremely Goebbelsian manner, to present the exposure of illegality as proof of the government’s guilt,” he said.
Mr Marinakis also addressed the work of the judiciary, stressing that “in a democracy, the judiciary always has the final say in every court case”. He then turned his criticism to the period of SYRIZA’s rule, arguing that “the only exception to this rule came during Mr Tsipras’s time in office, when he and his ‘parallel justice ministries’ had the final say”.
He also criticised the Tsipras government’s legislative choices on penal policy, saying that “his own legislation paved the way for the early release of the country’s most serious criminal”.
The government spokesman also responded to the former prime minister’s cinematic references, saying that “since his (brief) writing career did not help with his rebranding, we are delighted to see Mr Tsipras setting out on a new path as a film critic”. In closing, Mr Marinakis continued in the same vein, saying that “because the former prime minister likes to confuse cinema with real life, there are other films to remind him of his political record”, referring to the film “There Is Also Filotimo”.