Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-11 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] Mitsotakis: We live in a country that punishes hard work and criminalizes success [02] Council of Europe reports on Greek journalist arrested on libel charges --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] Mitsotakis: We live in a country that punishes hard work and criminalizes success New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday Greece is a country that punishes hard work and criminalizes success, after a meeting with self-employed professionals and scientists who work in Greece. "I want our youth to live in a Greece that will recognize their work, reward their talent, and reward their labors. That is why I am in favor of a bold tax reduction," he wrote on his Facebook page. He cites a simple table with an example he heard during the meeting with self-employed professionals where it shows that the new taxation, if a technical office manages to increase its income from 50,000 to 70,000 euros it will make only 1,000 euros of profit. "Why do it?" he asks. "Instead of asking the young to make dreams and reach high, we give them disincentives. Instead of rewarding professionals who stay up late in their offices, in their medical offices, on construction sites, we remove their access to money that belongs to their own pocket," he added. [02] Council of Europe reports on Greek journalist arrested on libel charges The Council of Europe reported on its portal on Tuesday on Greek investigative journalist Kostas Vaxevanis who was detained by police on libel charges after arriving voluntarily at Kallithea police station in Athens on 10 April 2017. The prosecutor later ordered his release pending preliminary investigation. The charges relate to a report published on 9 April 2017 in Vaxevanis' newspaper "Documento", alleging that Stavroula Nikolopoulou-Stournara, wife of the Governor of Greece's central bank, had taken advantage of her husband's influence to secure public funding for organising medical conferences without going through a public tender. The report also raised questions about Nikolopoulou-Stournara's links to the pharmaceutical industry as well as the involvement of her husband, Yannis Stournaras, in the conferences. Nikolopoulou-Stournara, whose home was raided last year as part of an investigation into possible corruption involving Greece's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, denied the report's claims and filed libel charges against Vaxevanis. In March 2015, a court sentenced Vaxevanis to 26 months in prison for defaming a prominent Greek businessman, Andreas Vgenopoulos, as part of an investigation into the 2012 to 2013 Cyprus financial crisis. A three-judge panel of the Athens Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the conviction in September 2016.