The Holy Archdiocese of Australia announces the decision of the Tripartite Misdemeanour Court of Kavala, dated 18 June 2024, which sentenced Ms Vasiliki Morali to eleven (11) months imprisonment with a three-year suspension due to her criminal activities involving repeated defamatory slander and insult through the internet.
This decision, as a first-degree jurisdiction of the Greek Courts, not only restores the severe and unethical insult suffered by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios but also sends a message in many directions that any reprehensible act cannot be without consequences.
The Holy Archdiocese of Australia, the Archbishop, the Bishops, and the staff working in its institutions and services serve with absolute conscientiousness and legality and it has been made clear in every direction that any signs of abuse, illegality, or exploitation are monitored and remedied by the Archbishop himself.
It should be noted that resorting to Justice was the last means of protecting the Church and the institution of the Archbishop, as every effort on his part to avoid judicial proceedings proved fruitless and was not heeded by Ms Morali, who was found guilty.
We hope that Ms Morali, the negative protagonist of these developments, as well as her associates, will reconsider their stance to date and will want to desist in the future from their behaviours up to now. This is something that will help them existentially and will relieve them from the turmoil they have fallen into. Otherwise, they will prolong the suffering that such doomed choices bring.
The Holy Archdiocese of Australia, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios, the God-loving Bishops, and all the members of the Consolidated Trust feel the need to thank the distinguished lawyer from Athens, Mr Stylianos Katselis, who handled the case with absolute conscientiousness and earnestness. At the same time, they congratulate him for once again delivering a fair and transparent result for our local Church.
