LONDON. The panic in Cyprus does not leave its neighbours unmoved: "Business and politics - it's all about mutual blackmail," says Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis. We are meeting in the "Free Word Centre" in East London, an office building of several international organizations fighting for the freedom of expression. The 45-year-old shakes his head. He has the distinct air of a man who would like to enjoy life a little more, but has been forced into the role of reluctant national whistleblower. "In Greece, it wasn’t about how to help the Greeks, but how to help the banks. In Cyprus, the EU and the Russians are arguing about money while the Cypriots fear for their savings."
Vaxevanis, editor-in-chief of news magazine "Hot Doc", has no illusions about the relationship between money and power. When he published the now-infamous “Lagarde List” last October - a list of some 2,000 names of Greeks who hold accounts in Swiss branches of HSBC bank - he was arrested at once. "Instead of pursuing tax evaders, they pursued me," he says. Even though a cash outflow of 27 billion euros per year is clearly one of Greece’s biggest problems. Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary Fund, first gave the list to then-Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou in 2010. She had hoped the Athens government would investigate the tax evasion schemes of wealthy citizens before the EU again committed billions of euros to bail out Greece’s shaky finances. But nothing happened. Papaconstantinou seems to have done only one thing: make the names of his three relatives disappear from the list.
Vaxevanis, on the other hand, has no doubt: the public deserved to know. "I did not break data protection laws", says Vaxevanis. "We only printed the list of account holders in Switzerland and not how much money they each have." The judge agreed and freed him. In London, campaign group "Index on Censorship" honoured him with a journalism prize on March 21.
Although his magazine "Hot Doc" has no funds left to publish, Vaxavanis wants to continue. “Look who is sitting on the Investigation Committee for the Lagarde List in our parliament !” he fumes. “An ex-wife of one of the people on the list; a mother of another person on the list, a lawyer who represents someone else on the list. And an MP who is himself involved in two cases of corruption.”
There are still many in Greece who want to silence Vaxevanis. He now faces a second trial for publishing the Lagarde List and a jail term of up to ten years. "If I am convicted, I will not appeal," the journalist says defiantly: "Then maybe people will understand better what’s really happening here in Greece."
The second trial against Kostas Vaxevanis begins on June 6.
http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/03/why-i-would-go-to-jail-for-my-journalistic-beliefs/