Greece's ruling New Democracy party faces a wave of high-profile court cases starting on September 1, as judges prepare to hear major trials involving agricultural subsidy fraud, the Tempi rail tragedy, and illegal wiretapping.
The upcoming judicial calendar is expected to create severe political headaches for the ruling party and the government headquarters at the Maximos Mansion in Athens. With the country moving along an election trajectory, the court proceedings are expected to dominate public debate and trigger political turbulence.
The new court term opens on September 1 with a prosecutorial proposal from Dionysis Mouzakis, a delegated European prosecutor, regarding an ongoing investigation into illegal agricultural subsidies in Crete.
On September 18, N.Ch., the owner of the company Nerco, is scheduled to return to the dock in a separate case involving illegal payments from OPEKEPE, Greece's agricultural payment agency. The businessman is named alongside 10 other individuals in several case files compiled by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and according to a news report, he has already received a first-instance conviction in a similar subsidy case in Grammos.
EU subsidy trials and New Democracy lawmakers
The legal focus shifts in October to four New Democracy members of parliament who face a series of criminal charges. Depending on the individual case, the lawmakers are accused of moral instigation to breach of trust, illegal management of European Union funds, false certification, and attempted computer fraud.
Katerina Papakosta will be the first lawmaker to stand trial on October 2, appearing early due to the special jurisdictional rules applying to her professional status as a lawyer. Her parliamentary colleagues will follow later in the autumn, with Christos Boukoros scheduled for trial on October 27, Maximos Senetakis on October 30, and Kostas Skrekas on November 12.
Alongside the politicians, courts have scheduled trials for 18 non-political individuals implicated in the OPEKEPE subsidy scandals. Among them is former OPEKEPE president Dimitris Melas, who faces five counts of breach of trust. The co-defendants include former executives of the payment agency, staff members from political offices, associates of former cabinet ministers, owners of local Declaration Receipt Centers, and individual subsidy recipients.
Five additional cases involving alleged criminal organizations operate across Greece in Serres, Giannitsa, Kozani, Agrinio, and Crete. More than 30 people are currently held in pre-trial detention for their involvement in illegal subsidy networks, while judicial councils in the coming months will issue critical indictments determining who will stand trial for severe felonies, including directing a criminal organization, fraud against European Union financial interests, and money laundering.
Repeated legal battles for former OPEKEPE chief
Former payment agency head Dimitris Melas is expected to face repeated courtroom appearances across multiple OPEKEPE proceedings. He has already received a first-instance sentence of five years and eight months in prison, suspended pending appeal, over the case of a missing official audit report authored by agency inspector Paraskevi Tycheropoulou, a sentence that could lead to actual imprisonment if upheld on appeal.
Melas also faces a second trial before the Athens Three-Member Court of Appeal for Felonies on charges of document suppression related to the same file, after judges determined the offense should be prosecuted as a felony. In addition to these cases, Melas is scheduled to take the dock at least five more times as a co-defendant alongside the four New Democracy lawmakers and in the trial of non-political figures.
Potential Special Court over Tempi disaster
The judicial proceedings surrounding the Tempi rail crash carry immense political weight, with the potential establishment of a new Special Court just three years after Greece last convened the tribunal to try former SYRIZA ministers Dimitris Papangelopoulos and Nikos Pappas.
Dimitris Mitroulias, a deputy prosecutor at the Supreme Court, has formally proposed referring former Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Christos Triantopoulos and four co-defendants to the Special Court. They face misdemeanor charges of breach of duty over allegations that the physical crash site was altered following the railway disaster.
The competent judicial council will issue the final decision on whether to proceed with the Special Court trial. Meanwhile, proceedings remain active against former Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Kostas Ach. Karamanlis for breach of duty, following a case file forwarded by special investigating magistrate Sotiris Bakaimis through the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office.
Predator spyware lawsuit and wiretapping appeals
The Greek phone surveillance scandal will also return to the judicial spotlight during the upcoming court term. On December 11, 2026, an appellate court is scheduled to hear the second-instance trial of four businessmen who were convicted at first instance over their involvement in the wiretapping network.
Furthermore, on April 7, 2027, the Athens Multi-Member Court of First Instance will hear a civil lawsuit brought by eight individuals who allege they were targeted by Predator commercial spyware. The lawsuit names the surveillance vendor Intellexa and 13 associated individuals, with plaintiffs seeking a total of 7.6 million euros in damages.
The plaintiffs seeking compensation in the Predator lawsuit include former Greek Police officer Penelope Miniati, Antonia Primba, Angeliki Roussou, Zoe Maria Sakkali, attorney Ioannis Fytilis, journalists Spyros Sideris and Thanasis Koukakis, and political scientist Artemis Seaford.
With courtroom dockets filled through 2027, the upcoming judicial year is set to become one of the most politically charged periods in recent Greek history, transforming courtroom halls into key arenas for the country's political future.
