Two separate lawsuits have been presented to Greek parliament against education minister Nikos Filis, over comments he made on Greek television denying that an actual genocide took place against ethnic Greeks in the Pontus region of what is now Turkey in the early 1900s.
Filis made the comments on television, arguing instead that the act was ethnic cleansing, a lesser charge against the perpetrator.
He enraged Pontian associations throughout the world who called for his resignation. Several demonstrations were held outside his office in Athens.
The Greek Supreme Court prosecutor’s office handed parliament two lawsuits against Filis, which claims he violated a Greek law passed in 2014 that criminalizes the denial of internationally recognized genocides and includes other matters including racism and xenophobia.
Parliamentarians will review the lawsuits, submitted by a New Democracy deputy and a high ranking naval officer, to determine of Filis’ parliamentary immunity should be lifted so he can stand trial.
