Greek Parliament decides to lift immunity of ex-SYRIZA Minister Pavlos Polakis

The Greek Parliament voted in a plenary session to lift the immunity of former Alternative Health Minister Pavlos Polakis with 163 deputies supporting the motion and 13 against it, over the case of his illegal recording of a phone conversation with the Governor of the Bank of Greece (BoG) Yiannis Stournaras.
On the case of Mr. Polakis’s slanderous defamation against Stratos Poulis, the MPs also voted for the lifting of the SYRIZA political firebrand’s immunity with 162 for, 13 against, and one abstention.

The former Minister had two pending cases against him since March, accompanied by the corresponding requests by the competent prosecutors for Mr. Polakis to waive his parliamentary immunity and not to refer him to a pre-trial parliamentary committee.
“It is a clear case of political persecution against me,” Mr. Polakis said, among other things, at the start of session, echoing an argument used by other former ministers during the discussion in parliament.