A Greek court has convicted four people over the illegal use of Predator spyware, in a case with direct links to the Cyprus surveillance scandal first exposed by Phileleftheros in 2022 and 2023.
The defendants — Tal Dilian, the Cyprus-linked founder of the Intellexa Group; Sara Hamou, reportedly his second wife; Greek businessman Felix Bitzios; and Yannis Lavranos — were found guilty on three counts. The combined sentence totalled 126 years and eight months, merged under Greek law to eight years. The sentence has been suspended pending appeal.
The court convicted all four of jointly, repeatedly and knowingly: interfering with personal data filing systems; violating the secrecy of telephone and oral communications; and unlawfully accessing information systems and data — all counts covering both completed acts and attempts.
Reading the verdict, court president Nikos Askianakis said it had been proved that the defendants “jointly and by mutual agreement committed the acts attributed to them with common intent and interfered with the mobile devices of the victims.”
Prosecutor Dimitris Pavlidis argued against granting any of the defendants mitigating circumstances. The scale of the operation, the recruitment of unknown individuals and intelligence services, the defendants’ clear knowledge of Predator’s illegal use, the web of companies and front persons involved, and the fact that the company continued operating in 2023 and 2024 “with the obvious aim of profit rules out any mitigating circumstance,” he said.
According to journalistic sources in Greece obtained by Phileleftheros, the court directly linked the espionage activity to the company’s relationship with Israel — in effect, spying on behalf of Israel.
Dilian had previously been at the centre of the Cyprus surveillance scandal. One of his companies, WiSpear, was fined by Larnaca Criminal Court, though — unlike in Greece — surveillance on Cypriot soil was not proven.
Hamou reportedly lived permanently in Limassol and held involvement in corporate entities linked to Dilian.
Bitzios was connected to the surveillance case and companies associated with the Predator software from the outset, as was Lavranos, who was linked to phone surveillance and technology companies providing services to the public sector.
One of the complainants, Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis, was among those illegally targeted. Speaking to journalists after the verdict, he said the acts had amounted to “the rape of my private life.”
Investigative journalists Tasos Teloglou and Eliza Triantafyllou, whose reporting for the Inside Story investigative journalism blog pieced together the scandal and caused shockwaves across Greece, appeared as witnesses.
In lengthy sworn testimony, the pair provided detailed accounts of how the companies and individuals involved had operated.
According to official notification from the Greek Data Protection Authority, the following individuals were among those targeted while holding public office:
Makis Voridis (Interior Minister), Adonis Georgiadis (Development and Investment Minister), Kostis Hatzidakis (Labour Minister), Giorgos Gerapetritis (Minister of State), Nikos Dendias (Foreign Minister), Vasilis Kikilias (Health Minister), Niki Kerameus (Education Minister), Michalis Chrysochoidis (Citizen Protection Minister), Yannis Oikonomou (government spokesman), Giorgos Mylonas (Secretary General of Parliament), Anna Stratiniki (Secretary General for Labour Relations, Labour Ministry), Alexandra Sdoukos (Secretary General for Energy and Mineral Resources, Environment Ministry), Alexis Patelis (chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis), Antonis Samaras (former Prime Minister), Vasiliki Vlachou (EYP prosecutor responsible for lifting communications secrecy), Christos Bardakis (Financial Prosecutor), Thanos Plevris (New Democracy MP and former Health Minister), Olga Kefalogianni (New Democracy MP), Andreas Loverdos (PASOK MP), and Dimitris Avramopoulos (former New Democracy MP, former minister, former European Commissioner).
Read more: