Drawing a line
Greece’s latest conviction by the European Court of Human Rights over the case of the former general secretary of public revenues draws a line for the country’s political system that it ought to have drawn on its own: looking for scandal in order to sully the reputation of your rival should never reach the point of violating the presumption of innocence. Politicians are not prosecutors.
Apart from the institutional harm they inflict, such witch hunts also discourage many capable people from becoming involved in politics.
