Minister Kostis Hatzidakis under surveillance by the National Intelligence Service
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A document from the Intelligence Service shows that the minister was under surveillance from 21 November 2020 to 17 November 2021, i.e. for one year. However, the surveillance appears to have been in place for a longer period of time, because the surveillance records include a communication between Hatzidakis and journalist Thanasis Koukakis, which took place on December 24, 2019.

The surveillance therefore appears to have been initiated shortly after New Democracy won the 2019 elections and brought the Intelligence Service under the direct supervision of the Prime Ministerâs office. The Prime Minister’s nephew, Gregory Dimitriadis, was placed as the Prime Minister’s Secretary General and the political head of the National Intelligence Service.

Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees the absolute inviolability of citizens’ communications and therefore the surveillance of a serving government minister raises issues of compatibility with the Constitution and with the rule of law more generally.