Name Kostas Vaxevanis | Role Journalist | |
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Books To O tes Christinas Onase: hoi meres kai hoi nychtes sten Argentine | ||
Lifestyle
Kostas Vaxevanis (Greek: Κώστας Βαξεβάνης; born 6 May 1966) is a Greek journalist. He is the owner and editor of the magazine Hot Doc.
Contents
- Lifestyle
- Kostas vaxevanis they are searching for me instead of the truth english subs
- Hot Doc
- Awards
- References
Born in 1966 in Agia Paraskevi, Lesbos, Vaxevanis began his journalistic career in Rizospastis in 1988. He later worked with other newspapers, including Eleftherotypia, Kathimerini, To Pontiki and To Vima.
In 1991, he began doing stories on the television channels NET and MEGA, being a reporter in war zones such as Bosnia, the Persian Gulf, Palestine, Albania and Kosovo.
Kostas vaxevanis they are searching for me instead of the truth english subs
Hot Doc
In April 2012, Vaxevanis began the publication of the fortnightly magazine Hot Doc.
On 28 October 2012, he was arrested over the magazine's publication of a document claimed to be the Lagarde list, a list of 1,991 names of Greek customers with accounts at the Swiss branch of HSBC, suggesting that they could be tax evaders. He was charged with "interfering with sensitive personal data". The published list had names of customers of the Geneva branch of HSBC and, according to the magazine, "matched a list of 2,059 people" on the Lagarde list. Vaxevanis was released from Athens police headquarters a few hours after his arrest. On leaving the building, he told a reporter: "The prosecutor's office wants to protect tax evaders. I'm just doing my duty. Instead of arresting the tax evaders and the ministers who had the list in their hands, they're trying to arrest the truth and freedom of the press."
On 29 October, he was given a "fast-track trial date" by prosecutors. Government critics contrasted the speed of the case against Vaxevanis with the slow arrest of Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris and the government's slow investigation of the Lagarde list itself. Following his arrest, Vaxevanis wrote an article for the British newspaper The Guardian describing his view of the circumstances behind the publication of the list. The New York Times condemned the prosecution in an op-ed titled "Greece Arrests the Messenger", stating, "Greece’s elected leaders need to pay more attention to investigating possible financial crimes and less to prosecuting journalists."
Vaxevanis' trial began on 1 November and ended the same day with an acquittal. Leaving the courtroom, he quoted George Orwell to supporters: "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. The rest is public relations." On 16 November, the courts indicated that he may face retrial. In 2013, a prosecutor overturned the acquittal and ordered Vaxevanis to undergo a new trial. The retrial ended in November 2013 with another acquittal.