Former New Democracy MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and three more defendants, officials of the ruling conservative party, have been convicted for the case known as “E-mails Gate” where the e-mails of diaspora Greeks were used without their consent for her political campaign.
The scandal broke out in March 2024 and led to the ousting of Asimakopoulou, a secretary general and two ND officials from their positions.
Last week, the Athens Three-Member Misdemeanor Court had found all defendants guilty and on Monday, June 22, it announced the sentences.
Asimakopoulou convicted to 20 months suspended for three years.
The Athens Three-Member Misdemeanor Court found guilty all four defendants in the case of the leak of expatriate emails. Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and former Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, were found guilty of both offenses they faced, the violation of official secrecy and the violation of the law on personal data.
On the contrary, the judges who took over the email gate case acquitted the other two defendants, Menios Koromilas, former Secretary of Local Government of the New Democracy Party, and Nikos Theodoropoulos, then Secretary of Expatriates of the New Democracy Party, for the offense of violating official secrecy and convicted them of violating the Personal Data Act.
The sentences
Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou was sentenced by a majority to 20 months in prison with a suspended sentence and Michalis Stavrianoudakis to an 18-month prison sentence with a suspended sentence. Correspondingly, Nikos Theodoropoulos was sentenced to 8 months in prison with a suspended sentence and Menios Koromilas received a 12-month sentence with a three-year suspension.
The court decision for the former ND MEP for the first offense was by majority, with the President of the court dissenting, and for the second offense it was unanimous, while for Michalis Stavrianoudakis the decision for both offenses was taken by majority, as the President was of the opinion that the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior should be declared innocent.
Correspondingly, the conviction for Nikos Theodoropoulos was taken by a majority of 2-1, with the President dissenting, while on the contrary the decision for Menios Koromilas was unanimous.
The court unanimously recognized the mitigating factor of previous cohabitation for all the defendants.
All four defendants were present in court, while two of the three complainants, Greeks residing abroad, who received an email from Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou’s political office and sued her for violating their personal data, were “present” in the courtroom.
The fines
By decision of the Council of State, the administrative fines of 40,000 euros for data leakage against Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou and 10,000 euros each against Nikos Theodoropoulos and Menios Koromilas were maintained.
The Council of State had accepted the appeal of ND, canceling the fine against her.
Earlier, the Personal Data Protection Authority had also imposed a fine of 400,000 euros on the Ministry of Interior, which was considered to have “lost” the list of data on expatriates, while the Ministry did not appeal to the Council of State. [sources: dimokratia, newit etc]
*thumbnail picture: from the time Asimakopoulou was appearing on TV explaining to Greekidiots how easy it was for her to send an email via mobile.
