The Al Jazeera video is not included in the witness material of the criminal case registered by the Legal Service against D. Syllouris – Chr. Giovanni, on trial for corruption
Libel lawsuits in which they claim compensation of over €2 million each were filed separately against the Al Jazeera news network and its journalists by the lawyer Andreas Pittatzis, the former speaker of the Parliament Dimitris Syllouris and the businessman – former AKEL MP Christakis Tziovanis. Cause, the edited video shown by the said television network, in October 2020, on the subject of the “golden” passports, which presented them as corrupt, forcing Syllouris and Giovani, after the popular indignation and outcry that was caused, to resign from the public offices they held.
Pittatzis, Syllouris and Giovanis, in different lawsuits filed in the District Court, denounce their entrapment by the undercover Al Jazeera journalists, who acted as intermediaries for the issuing of “golden” passports to Chinese businessmen who did not meet the criteria set out in the relevant legislation.
The video in question, lasting 57 minutes, was broadcast by the state television network of Qatar on 12/10/2020 simultaneously in 150 countries of the world, including Cyprus. It was also shown on Social Media. This infamous video, when it was shown in Cyprus, caused a storm of outcry and indignation against Pittatzis, Syllouris and Giovanis. In the end, the video in question was not included in the witness material presented before the Criminal Court by the General Prosecutor Giorgos Savvidis, as it was obtained illegally, was a product of editing and did not convey the truth. And the Al Jazeera network refused to send the entire audio-visual material collected, in 2019, by its journalists under cover with hidden cameras. Instead, he sent part of it to the Police after a request for judicial assistance was first forwarded to the government of Qatar. And the journalists of the television network refused to come to Cyprus to testify.
Education after acquittal
The criminal case registered against the lawyer Andreas Pittatzis was withdrawn before it even began by the General Prosecutor Giorgos Savvidis, on October 11, 2023. A development that increases the chances of success of his lawsuit, with Pittatzis arguing in their demand report that, from defamation and the drag he and his family suffered, as well as his law firm, suffered a loss of millions of euros in revenue. The amount of damages increases even more when the moral damages caused by the disputed Al Jazeera video are added to the equation. According to Mr. Pittatzis, he, his wife and their three minor children experienced daily humiliation, ridicule, “the tsunami of contempt and outcry” for which, today, A. Pittatzis also claims punitive damages ” for dishonest, malicious, false and fraudulent defamation”.
Al Jazeera's Cypriot lawyers
The Al Jazeera television network and its journalists are represented in Cyprus by the law firm Pollakis Sarris D.E.P.E. Called by “P”, the partner in the office, Mr. Giorgos Tryllidis, stated that the lawsuits in question are still at an early stage. According to Mr. Trillidis, they have not yet responded to the demands of Pittatzis, Syllouris and Giovanis. Once that is done, he noted, a date will be set for the lawsuits to be heard.
It should be noted that Syllouris and Giovani are on trial at the Nicosia Criminal Court, among other things, for the crime of corruption. If they are convicted, the chances of success in their defamation lawsuits against Al Jazeera and its journalists are slim to none. In the event that they are acquitted, at least for Syllouris, the major ethical issue that arises for him from the promises he made to the alleged middlemen-undercover journalists for “full support” in the issuance of the “golden” passports cannot be erased. The particular excerpt in the Al Jazeera video is unedited.
“I was portrayed as corrupt, criminal and immoral”
In his claim report, with a cost scale of more than €2 million, Andreas Pittatzis claims, among other things, that the damage suffered “by the malicious and obscene video” of Al Jazeera to his honor, dignity and reputation is enormous and incalculable , as it was shown to millions of viewers worldwide. Andreas Pittatzis also claims the following in his statement of claim regarding the disputed Al Jazeera video and its undercover journalists:
* He was maliciously, falsely and fraudulently represented as ready to cooperate with anyone or to do everything to ensure Cypriot citizenship for someone illegal.
* While he told them “This is Cyprus” to show how modern and efficient the Cypriot state is, they, with unethical and fraudulent ways and special stitching or construction of shots or images or montages, presented him saying “This is Cyprus » in the sense that this is the corrupt Cyprus.
* They hid his statements and positions that supported morality and legality and presented fragmentary images and phrases with the method of montage or adaptation or construction of images and sounds that falsified his words and presented him ready to commit illegal acts.
* All banks stopped cooperation with him and his law firm and advised – urged their clients, foreign and Cypriot, not to cooperate with them, because he is subject to negative or unfavorable reports and comments from everyone.
< p >
The cost to the family
In his compensation claim report, Andreas Pittatzis refers to the great pain and bitterness he experienced when the three children of him, who brought him information they heard from their classmates, asking him crying if he is a thief, illegal, corrupt and whether he will go to prison. And his wife, a teacher, was despised by the general public, by her colleagues and by her students because her husband is corrupt.
According to Andreas Pittatzis, his father George F. Pittatzis, who built the law firm with 50 years of hard work, “received scorn and adverse comments, that his son is a thief, liar, immoral and corrupt”.
