MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR SPECKHARD: MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000507 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL MUKASEY E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KCRM GR SUBJECT: MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR SPECKHARD: MEETING WITH GREEK MINISTER OF JUSTICE Classified By: AMBASSADOR DANIEL V. SPECKHARD FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Mr. Attorney General, I'm pleased you will be meeting with Greek Minister of Justice Sotiris Hatzigakis on April ¶11. Although I'm sure your staff has prepared briefing material, I wanted to highlight a few key issues that I would ask that you raise with him. I met with Hatzigakis on March 7 and pressed him on these points. It would be helpful if you could reiterate our concerns and requests on the following three issues: -- seek a formal response on the extradition request of Angelo Haligiannis; -- urge parliamentary passage of the implementing legislation on the U.S./EU Extradition Agreement; and -- highlight the importance of effective action to protect intellectual property rights and our willingness to work with the Greek Ministry of Justice and Judiciary to develop training programs. Although the Minister of Justice will claim that he does not have the same level of executive authorities that you have to accomplish these efforts, he still has the ability to influence the outcome in each of these cases. We have included additional information on each of the issues below. I appreciate your taking the time to see the Minister and want to assure you that Embassy Athens stands ready to assist your Department in any way we can in carrying out your important mission. -------------- ANGELO HALIGIANNIS -------------- ¶2. (C) RECOMMENDED POINTS TO RAISE: -- Request that the Government of Greece respond formally to our extradition request. -- Request clarification whether Haligiannis has violated any Greek laws, (i.e. Illegal Entry, Tax Evasion, Money Laundering, or Evasion of Military Service) and, if so, what the status is of any pending criminal cases. BACKGROUND: After being arrested in Greece (on a federal warrant out of your old Court, the Southern District of New York),Angelo Haligiannis claimed he was a Greek citi@arents' Greek heritageQc prosecutor in Crete rQ`y after his arrest on t a Greek citizen. Whenes, Haligiannis was noQilateral extradition tQd the U.S. (Article 8) cpher country has to turn over its own citizens "except in cases where such citizenship has been obtained after the perpetration of the crime for which extradition is sought." On October 26, 2007, the U.S. formally requested the extradition of Haligiannis. To date, we have received no official reply to our request. Despite our insistence that the Extradition Treaty should be enforced according to its terms, we have not received any assistance from the Greek government about how we can pursue an appeal of the first-instance decision by the prosecutor in Crete. The Embassy is prepared to hire legal counsel to pursue the appeal, but we must have an official response to our extradition request from the Government of Greece and some guidance about where and how we would appeal the local prosecutor's ruling. -------------- RATIFICATION OF THE U.S.-EU AGREEMENTS -------------- ¶3. (C) RECOMMENDED POINTS TO RAISE: -- Urge the Greek Parliament to pass implementing legislation on the U.S./EU Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement before the U.S.-EU Summit in June. BACKGROUND: The U.S. and the EU concluded a Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Agrement under the Greek EU Presidency in 2003 Greece remains one of oly 8 EU states that have not completed domestic constitutional procedures for its approval. When I raised this issue with Hatzigakis on March 7, he said that the Ministry of Justice is drafting implementing legislation for Parliament and plans to have it done before the U.S.-EU Summit in June. However, we do not believe the legislation has yet been sent to Parliament for action. -------------- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUES -------------- ¶4. (C) RECOMMENDED POINTS TO RAISE: -- Highlight the importance of effective action to protect intellectual property rights. -- Reiterate Embassy Athens' offer of U.S. assistance to work with MOJ or the Greek judiciary to develop courses and work with the Ministry and or judiciary on intellectual property rights. BACKGROUND: The United States is in the process of developing its annual Special 301 Report identifying countries that deny adequate and effective protection to intellectual property rights. One of our chief areas of concern in Greece is the enforcement regime and, in particular, too few prosecutions and convictions and suspended penalties. We have encouraged specific IPR training courses for sitting justices and prosecutors, but this suggestion has received little resonance. -------------- BIO INFORMATION ON MINISTER HATZIGAKIS -------------- ¶5. (C) An old-style Greek politician, Hatzigakis has been Minister of Justice since September 19, 2007. He hails from a legendary Greek political family -- there has been a Hatzigakis in Greek Parliament since 1892, and his cousin, Evangelos Averoff, was a Foreign and Defense Minister in the 1960s and 1970s and a New Democracy party leader. Hatzigakis has been elected to the Parliament 12 times, serving since 1974 -- the end of the military junta that ruled Greece. He has previously served as an Alternate Minister for Economy and Minister of Labor (1989-1990),Alternate Minister for Trade (1990) and Minister of Agriculture (1991-1992),and as one of the Vice-Presidents of Parliament. He brings no particular legal expertise to his position as Minister of Justice. He speaks English moderately well. SPECKHARD