Thanos Plevris has hit back at PASOK‘s criticism over his connection to the remanded doctor at the center of the Giorgos Mazonakis death case, dismissing the opposition party’s claims about their shared membership in the same association in 2012 as “speculation.” The Minister of Migration and Asylum insists that his relationship with the doctor was purely formal, clarifying that he first came to know him as a physician in 2016, when he sought him out for a personal health matter. “PASOK is trying to spin this into something it isn’t,” Plevris said, speaking on Meganews Radio.
Read more: PASOK demands clarification from Thanos Plevris over his acquaintance with the two accused doctors in the Mazonakis case
Plevris insisted that he had been upfront from the beginning about the key facts: that he personally knew the doctor, that he had been his patient, and that following the incident involving Giorgos Mazonakis, he had called the doctor to find out what had happened. “What exactly is PASOK accusing me of? That I said 2016 instead of 2012? The important thing is that I had a relationship with him and I called him,” he said.
“The association never really operated,” says Thanos Plevris
Responding specifically to PASOK’s reference to 2012, Plevris argued that he and the doctor had simply found themselves in the same association along with dozens of other people, with no subsequent collaboration or meaningful activity taking place.
“That particular association does not belong to the doctor. It consists of many individuals — it has 20 members, with a governing board of five people. The question is, what exactly is PASOK trying to pin on me? That I said I met him in 2016 and not 2012? My relationship with him was a perfectly ordinary, amicable one. Associations bring together all kinds of people, and this particular one never operated in the way it is being portrayed,” he said.
Plevris again stressed that he had disclosed the essential facts from the outset: that he knew the doctor, that he had been his patient, and that after the incident involving Giorgos Mazonakis he had reached out to him to find out what had happened.
“I have known him as a doctor since 2016”
Plevris drew a clear distinction between their shared association membership and the subsequent doctor-patient relationship. “I have known him as a doctor since 2016. He has been my doctor,” he said, adding: “What does the period from 2012 to 2016 have to do with 2026?”
He also questioned why he would have had any reason to conceal anything, given that he had already spoken publicly about their acquaintance and about the phone call he made after the incident. “In 2012, I knew him through the association — I knew his name and that he was a doctor — but my personal contact with him as a physician began in 2016. He never suggested any such treatments to me, and I had no idea that such treatments were even taking place,” he said.
Plevris goes on the offensive over the treatments and the EOF
Plevris also responded to PASOK’s question about whether he was aware of the treatments at the heart of the case. He stated that this particular doctor had never recommended any such treatment to him personally. “Every piece of advice Theodoropoulos gave me was sound. He never once suggested such a treatment to me. He may have suggested it to others — I don’t know,” he said.
He then turned his fire on PASOK, invoking a medical conference at which the controversial therapeutic approach had been presented. “PASOK wraps things up and asks: did you know about the treatments? And I’ll answer that directly,” he said.
He added, referring to emeritus professor Giannis Tountas: “Who was the professor chairing that conference? Mr. Tountas. Was he not, among other roles, president of the National Medicines Organization (EOF) under PASOK, under Giorgos Papandreou? And now PASOK comes to ask whether I knew?”
Plevris concluded by reiterating that his phone call to Ilias Theodoropoulos was made at a point in time when, as he put it, “no charges had yet been brought against him.”
It is worth noting that earlier, PASOK had issued a statement accompanied by relevant documents, claiming that the minister’s acquaintance with the couple dates back to 2012.
PASOK’s statement
“From the very early days of the high-profile case surrounding the death of Giorgos Mazonakis at a clinic allegedly carrying out illegal medical procedures, the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Mr. Plevris, had rushed to declare that he knew the two accused doctors having sought their nutritional advice following a personal health issue.
Since then — as he publicly stated — he had maintained contact with them, and on the day of the tragic incident he called the doctor to find out what had happened. However, as is now evidenced, their acquaintance goes back much further: in 2012, Plevris was a founding member of the association ‘Hellenic Medical Law Council’ alongside the couple.
In fact, Mr. Plevris appears to have been, together with the two accused, three of the five members of the provisional governing board who jointly petitioned the Athens Court of First Instance to ratify the association’s charter, dated 3 June 2012.
The minister owes the public an explanation as to why he misrepresented the timeline of his acquaintance with them, and whether he was aware that the two doctors were performing illegal medical procedures.
This is a very serious matter, and the questions it raises demand answers.”
