Cheers broke out in the packed Athens courtroom as the verdict was delivered: Costas Vaxevanis, the investigative journalist, had been acquitted. Outside, however, some of Greece’s richest and most powerful figures braced for the verdict’s repercussions.
The judge found that Mr Vaxevanis had acted in the public interest when he published the “Lagarde list” – a document containing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts – in Hot Doc, the magazine he edits.
The case has captivated austerity-wracked Greece, where the unemployment rate has reached 24 per cent and basic services, including discounted prescriptions and family benefits, are being slashed. For many Greeks, the rampant tax evasion highlighted by Mr Vaxevanis is confirmation that the wealthiest have shirked their responsibilities to the country by sending their savings abroad.