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![[370268] ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΚΤΕΛΕΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΓΡΑΦΕΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΣΥΡΙΖΑ - ΠΣ (ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΚΟΝΤΑΡΙΝΗΣ / EUROKINISSI)](https://www.thenationalherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6254398-1568x1043.jpg "Meeting at the offices of Koumoundourou of the Executive Bureau of SYRIZA-PΑ chaired by Stefanos Kasselakis, Tuesday June 18, 2024 (GIORGOS KONTARINIS / EUROKINISSI)")
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ATHENS – Greece’s main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis said that Ombudsman Andreas Pottakis should not be replaced until finishing an investigation into a deadly refugee shipwreck drawing questions.
“One year after the Pylos shipwreck, every concerned citizen demands answers, as do the relatives of the people who drowned in the waters off our shores and of the hundreds who are missing,” Kasselakis said in a post on social media.
He noted Pottakis was looking into 10 Coast Guard officers who were monitoring the ship before it sank, “as we have learned from reports in the foreign media,” the Ombudsman acting after the Coast Guard refused to do so.
“Whom does the government’s eagerness for his immediate replacement serve? The rule of law? Democracy? Justice? The phone tappings, Tempi and the Pylos shipwreck have a common denominator…the attempt to cover them up,” Kasselakis said of the ruling New Democracy taking heat.
Kasselakis, who is trying to quell a rebellion in SYRIZA over his leadership, said that progressive forces should act together against what he said were the “government’s machinations,” claiming the ship tragedy is being covered up.
The Ombudsman is elected by the Parliament – now controlled by New Democracy – to an office that otherwise is supposed to be independent and free of political interference and Pottakis has been aggressive in looking into the disaster.
Survivors from the sinking near Pylos in the Peloponnese in June, 2023 said it was caused by the Coast Guard trying to attach a rope to tow it further out to sea, the Greek vessel’s cameras turned over so there wouldn’t be any recordings.
The Coast Guard denied everything and was defended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government before a largely secret investigation was begun that has revealed nothing and no signs that it will.
In November, 2023, Kasselakis met with Pottakis over the ship sinking and said it was up to the Ombudsman’s office to find out what really happened because he said that New Democracy was hiding the truth.
