The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) fully supports the Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis as he brings his surveillance case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). On 26 August, Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis’s lawyers filed an application before the ECHR against Greece arguing domestic judicial authorities failed to fully investigate the violation of the journalist’s private communications and the infection of his phone with Predator spyware in 2021.

“This application is a crucial step in ensuring that independent and impartial investigations are carried out and that those responsible for unlawfully surveilling journalists are held accountable. Surveillance tactics not only erode journalists’ ability to work freely, but also endanger their lives and safety, and compromise the confidentiality of their sources. Together with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), we fully support Koukakis’s application to the ECHR and reiterate our calls for those responsible for the invasive surveillance to be held accountable,” stated EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez.

Thanasis Koukakis’s surveillance case dates back to 2020, when Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) monitored Koukakis’s communications, and to 2021, when his phone was separately infected with Predator spyware for over two months. EFJ condemned the surveillance at the time, calling on the Greek government to launch a full investigation into the illegal spying of journalists and to hold those responsible to account. Four years on since the journalist was informed, that accountability has yet to materialize.

A first breakthrough came in February 2026, when the Second Single-Member Misdemeanor Court of Athens convicted four people to lengthy prison terms over the Predator scandal and ordered further investigation, to establish whether other offenses, including espionage, had been committed. However, the investigation did not last long: the case had already been dismissed once by Deputy Prosecutor Achilleas Zisis, and Supreme Court Prosecutor Konstantinos Tzavellas took only a few days to shut it down again, ruling on April 27 against reopening it.

According to Koukakis’s lawyers, the Supreme Court Prosecutor should never have been the one to decide. In his previous role as the prosecutor overseeing the National Intelligence Service, he had personally signed the orders to lift the confidentiality of Koukakis’s communications back in the summer of 2020: the surveillance case that the reopened investigation was intended to examine. Prosecutor Konstantinos Tzavellas did not recuse himself, and no request for his removal was ever considered. For the journalist’s legal team, this is precisely why the case cannot be considered closed: key questions, about why Koukakis was targeted, who benefited from the surveillance, and whether the intelligence service’s monitoring was linked to the use of Predator against him, have never been answered. The application also raises issues regarding violations of the right to privacy, freedom of expression, the protection of journalistic sources, and the right to an effective remedy.