Course of Freedom and KKE clash intensifies

Zoe Konstantopoulou, the leader of the anti-establishment Course of Freedom, has said she intends to sue Communist Party (KKE) MP Liana Kanelli, following an intensification in the clash between the two parties over their response to the Tempe railway disaster and other issues.

In a statement, the Course of Freedom leader said she was resorting to legal action in response to the “lies [Kanelli] systematically hurls at me, for the libelous services to the system she offers every day with wild fury.”

In an appearance on Action24 TV earlier on Friday, Kanelli claimed that Konstantopoulou in the past had intervened with the parliamentary speaker to have Ilias Kasidiaris, jailed for his leading role in the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn organization, released from prison so he could attend the legislature.

“I have heard with my own ears the good words that Golden Dawn has to say about her,” Kanelli said.

She also alleged that the Course of Freedom leader of “putting on a show and a parade in Parliament with the Tempe case for the benefit of the cameras” and that she had undertaken pro bono work as a lawyer for the victims’ families in order to exploit the tragedy politically.

Last week in parliament, Konstantopoulou accused the KKE of tacitly supporting the government on the matter of the Tempe investigation.

The Course of Freedom leader had sought to have parts of the case file entered into the parliamentary record but was told by a deputy speaker, Giorgos Labroulis of the KKE, that it was not possible.

The KKE subsequently accused Konstantopoulou of engaging in “provocations” against the party, with its youth wing publishing a video alleging that she, as parliamentary speaker in 2015, had taken a favorable stance towards Golden Dawn.

The intensification of the clash between the two parties comes as both as seen their poll ratings increase. 

Kathimerini