The lawyer who could provide vital information in the Zachopoulos investigation is likely to be in a fit state to face questioning in three to four weeks, a court-appointed expert said yesterday.

Psychiatry professor Yiannis Papadatos delivered his findings to the magistrate after examining lawyer Christos Nikoloutsopoulos in the hospital. Nikoloutsopoulos is the lawyer who accompanied former Culture Ministry employee Evi Tsekou to meetings with journalists where she allegedly told them about her affair with the ministry’s then general secretary, Christos Zachopoulos.

Nikoloutsopoulos has been under care since last month when he was diagnosed with depression.

This prevented him from making his deposition last week, so magistrate Dimitris Economou ordered two medical experts to examine the lawyer and see whether he could appear in court.

A second psychiatrist is due to deliver his report on Nikoloutsopoulos today.

Tsekou is due to make a second deposition next Monday after her questioning this Monday was postponed because of the heavy snowfall.