Greek MEP Nikos Pappas has been suspended from the left-wing Syriza party and referred to its ethics committee following an alleged assault on a journalist at a bar in Strasbourg.
In a statement, Syriza said party president Socrates Famellos had also removed Pappas from the party’s group in the European Parliament, describing his conduct as unacceptable.
The move comes after journalist Nikos Giannopoulos, a reporter for Greece’s News24/7 website, alleged he was attacked by Pappas on Tuesday evening.
Giannopoulos said that as he was preparing to leave the bar, Pappas deliberately tripped him and, when confronted, challenged him to take the dispute outside to “settle the score.”
According to Giannopoulos, Pappas then struck him twice on the head from behind as he was leaving, causing him to fall. The journalist said he lodged a police complaint with Strasbourg authorities on Wednesday.
Following the allegations, a spokesperson for the Greek government, where Pappas also serves as a lawmaker, issued a statement criticising both the MEP and Syriza.
“This incident follows previous disparaging and aggressive behaviour by this MEP, with many different victims, for which his party followed the tactic of silence and political cover-up. He had to go out on a limb to force Syriza to expel him,” the statement said.
“Be that as it may, the fact that for so long they kept a man with such recurring behaviour in their party is further proof that those who pretend to be the preachers of morality and the honourees of the rule of law are in fact the biggest hypocrites.”
Source: Euronews.
