ATHENS – Independent Greeks (ANEL) leader Panos Kammenos, who served as defense chief in a Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition, was ordered by Athens’ Court of Appeals to pay 50,000 euros plus interest for slandering Andrikos Papandreou, brother of former premier and then-PASOK leader George Papandreou.

Kammenos, who quit the SYRIZA government months ahead of its defeat in July 7, 2019 snap polls to New Democracy because he was upset the leftists agreed to the name North Macedonia for Greece’s northern neighbor, accused Papandreou’s brother of involvement with a firm that profited from the purchase of credit default swaps (CDS) insuring against a Greek bankruptcy.

The court found in favor in two suits filed in May 2011 and November 2012, finding Kammenos’ repeated allegations were defamatory, insulting and threatening, according to news website mononews.gr.

The court also ordered Kammenos to pay Papandreou another 2,000 euros ($2450.24) every time he slanders him in the future, indicating belief that the judgment won’t stop him from doing it again.

CDS are financial instruments that protect investors against losses in the event of a sovereign default and were instrumental during Greece’s near decade-long economic and austerity crisis that saw three international bailouts of 326 billion euros ($399.39 billion) end on Aug. 20, 2018 in failure.

Papandreou had originally sued Kammenos for 1.3 million euros ($1.59 million) for moral damages. ANEL wasn’t part of the government at the time of the slander which means Kammenos didn’t have immunity from prosecution.