Greece’s justice ministry is reportedly studying the prospect of upgrading charges and making sentences stricter for individuals convicted of trafficking and publicizing information and material about third parties’ personal lives, especially intimate moments, all in the wake of a particularly prominent instance of “revenge porn” that surfaced this week.
Social media in the east Mediterranean country buzzed at the beginning of the week with allegations that a well-known television personality and music radio host and producer uploaded erotic videos and photographs of a former girlfriend. The report was immediately picked up by television and Internet sites and essentially confirmed by the man in question in a subsequent public apology.
The case, however, dates from 2018-19, when the woman shown in the erotic materials first made a police complaint and then filed a lawsuit. She reportedly dated the man between 2016-18.
The television personality, Stathis Panagiotopoulos, was absent on Monday from the set of a daily satirical current affairs show, called “Radio Arvyla”, that has been aired on-again, off-again on several Greek television stations for almost 20 years. The show’s main presenter confirmed that allegations against the co-presenter had been made that he (Panagiotopoulos) was essentially let go.
According to reports on Wednesday, the proposed legal framework will be even stiffer when involving minors.
Panagiotopoulos now faces a court trial in which he is accused of uploading video and hundreds of photographs on at least three multinational pornographic media and social networking sites. Allegations also followed by at least another two women that the man also posted erotic material of them.