More on the cell phone spying/dead whistleblower scandal

Few readers responded to my previous post on the telecom spying scandals in Italy and Greece -- scandals which may have resulted in the non-suicidal deaths of Adamo Bove and Costas Tsalikidis, two important whistleblowers. Still, these related matters are finally getting some much-needed attention.

Many thanks to Steven D for his genuinely fair and balanced Daily Kos diary entry. One of his readers offered a comment which I consider of worthy of special note:

i have a greek friend...

that i chat with on IM. he's pretty well connected in military matters over there. i discuss world events with him to get a perspective on things. i asked him about the greek guy who was involved in this mess, and he shut up fast and emphatically refused to discuss this at all.

the only time he ever ahut up and said change the subject like that before was when i mentioned the israeli/south africa joint nuclear test in the south indian ocean. hmm.

The most interesting new claims in the Costas Tsalikidis case come to us by way of Wikipedia. I have no idea who wrote this and cannot judge the veracity. As always, caveat lector:

The most recent reports are of a 'mystery man' who has allegedly been providing information about the circumstances surrounding the death who had met with the family’s lawyer and insisted that the technician had been murdered. Themistoklis Sofos (the lawyer) said he met with the man, who has still not been identified, at a remote spot on the outskirts of Attica. All that is known about the informant is that he is not a Vodafone employee.

He told Sofos that Tsalikidis was murdered to prevent him from talking about the spy software he discovered in Vodafone’s system. The man named the alleged killers, some of whom had links to the mobile phone firm, he claimed. Sofos said he asked for evidence to back up this claim and was told by the informant that he would get it in 10 days.

(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)

This page is devoted to the Costas Tsalikidis case. These sample entries from the timeline deserve to be noted:

February 3, 2006

The press widely believes that the wire tapping case is related to the suicide of Mr. Tsalikidis. This is first page news in all the press and mass media of the country for the next two weeks. Countless news programs are assuming that the suicide of Mr. Tsalikidis may not have been a suicide.

February 8, 2006

The investigation of Mr. Tsalikidis’ death is handed over to the highly experienced Prosecutor, Mr. Diotis. For the first time in a year since the death of Mr. Tsalikidis an investigation of his apartment is conducted. The results have not been made public yet.

No search for an entire year? Someone must have fed a 12-months' supply of Unisom to the Greek cops. Or perhaps Hypnos, Greek god of sleep, has been interfering with police procedure again.

We should also take note of these words from the family's lawyer:

According to his brother, Panagiotis, Costas submitted his resignation to Vodafone Senior Engineering Manager, Nikos Plevris, 20 days before his death. The resignation was strongly rejected by Vodafone, and he continued to go to work until his death. It was also confirmed that a stormy meeting had taken place at the company the day before his death.

He had also expressed great concerns to his fiancée over something wrong going on at the company. He did not mention the bugging or any illegal activity, but he said something very wrong was happening and that if it became public it would create havoc. He had also said to his fiancée the last days before his death, that his departure from the company was a matter of life and death.

Please do what you can to draw attention to what should be a huge story. Remember, the spying targets were politicians and military figures, not terrorists. If properly exposed, the Greek and Italian telecom scandals could demonstrate, once and for all, that anti-terrorism serves as an excuse for truly Orwellian offenses.