Trial of 'Greek Assange' begins today

Greek editor and journalist Costas Vaxevanis - known as the 'Greek Assange' - arrived in an Athens court today where he will stand trial for breach of privacy after publishing on his magazine Hot Doc the names of 2,059 Greeks with alleged Swiss bank accounts. Those on the list are suspected of using bank accounts with Swiss bank HSBC for a total value of 1.5 to 2 billion euros for tax evasion. Vaxevanis, 46, perhaps the most well known of Greece's few investigative reporters, is accused of breaching privacy laws for publishing sensitive personal data, although he only revealed the names of the Greeks on the list and not the amount deposited on their accounts, which is believed to total between 1.5 and 2 billion euros.