Camera-shy union chief cleared in court
The head of Greece’s largest private sector union and two Public Power Corporation technicians have been cleared by a judge of any wrongdoing after going on trial for climbing up a pole and covering a CCTV camera during a protest march in 2007. The judge agreed with the prosecutor’s view that Yiannis Panagopoulos, the president of the General Confederation of Greek Labor, and the two technicians had not damaged the camera, which was not working anyway as Greece’s privacy watchdog only allows them to be used for monitoring traffic. Panagopoulos had been charged with inciting the PPC employees to damage an object that exists for the common good. The defendants said their action was merely symbolic and they had no intention of causing any damage to the camera but only to protest against their use.
