“Those who spread vile lies, whether they are journalists, satirists, or journalists who murder characters, should look in the mirror,” government spokesman Paul Marinakis called on Friday morning, referring to what Kyriakos Mitsotakis said about toxicity yesterday in the Parliament on the occasion of the health adventure of Giorgos Mylonakis.

“We have gone off the rails. It is unthinkable to see comments at a time when a man is struggling. We have hit rock bottom from a morbid minority making noise,” Marinakis told ANT1, stressing that “those who tolerate them are complicit.”

Referring to the reactions from political forces during Mitsotakis’ speech in parliament on Thursday, the government spokesman said, “It is vulgar to talk about instrumentalization when behind a prime minister is a man who has associates and friends, while a month ago his daughter was targeted. We are talking about a headline that was from the first word to the last word, a targeting of Mr. Mylonakis. May I remind you that we had Mr. Famellos, who, through questions, tried to link the Prime Minister to the death of a man? May I remind you that we have another political leader who has said everything about the MPs of the Southwest? Even Mr Androulakis, whom I do not put in the same bag, has had members who have talked about lost wagons. I say this to show that there is no end to it as long as we keep feeding it.”

In fact, as Marinakis pointed out, “it’s not equal. We have been experiencing targeting for the last three years. Remember the ND pedophiles, ND murderers, Mitsotakis beep… these have never happened before. The ‘you cover up a crime and have your hands stained with blood’ was heard from political forces. We cannot turn a blind eye to toxic speech.”

Regarding Georgiadis’ statements about European prosecutor Poppy Papandreou, the government spokesman said, “although I share much of what Mr. Georgiades says, I focus on the fact that completely different from what we heard were the leaks and different from the official evidence in the dossier. The second thing that raises a legitimate question is the salamation and the third is the leaks themselves.”

“Under no circumstances should we think of turning against the judiciary. Never will this government ever question the judiciary and raise an issue against the judiciary. At a time when the judges are under attack because of the Tempe trial, we are on their side. We should in no way turn aggressively against the judiciary, putting questions on the table is another matter,” the government spokesman added.

Finally, on the Lazaridis case, Pavlos Marinakis noted that “he could certainly have been hired as a post-employee. Here, we understand that he filed some documents, and the officials evaluated them in a way they shouldn’t have and put him in a tier he shouldn’t have. It certainly follows that the grade he was hired at should not have been hired at, so data well done and should have been done in the first place, and said he would turn in the extra, and to me, well done and said for his style. It’s only human when you’re being targeted to say certain things that people find annoying. We need to think that when we have public speaking, we are not responding to those who accuse us – rightly or wrongly – but to society. The tone often matters more than the substance of the issue.”