Zoe Konstantopoulou

Zoe Konstantopoulou
Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου
Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
In office 6 February 2015 – 4 October 2015
President	Karolos Papoulias Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Preceded by	Vangelis Meimarakis
Succeeded by	Nikos Voutsis
Personal details
Born	August 1976 (age 39) Athens, Greece
Political party	Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) (2012-2015) Plefsi Eleftherias (2016-)
Parents	Nikos Konstantopoulos, Lina Alexiou
Alma mater	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense Pantheon-Sorbonne University
Profession	Human rights lawyer
Website	www.zoikonstantopoulou.gr

Zoe Konstantopoulou (Greek: Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου; born December 8 1976 in Athens) is a Greek lawyer and politician of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). Her father is Nikos Konstantopoulos. On 27 January 2015 she was nominated Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament.^[1] She was elected to the post on 6 February 2015 with the record number of 235 out of 300 votes. Apart from SYRIZA, her candidacy was also supported by the Independent Greeks, The River, PASOK and New Democracy parties.^[2] Konstantopoulou supports the Popular Unity party, formed from former members of SYRIZA's Left Platform, in Greece's September 20, 2015 parliamentary elections.^[3]

Life

Born in December 1976 in Athens, she is the daughter of former Synaspismos chairman Nikos Konstantopoulos and his wife Lina Alexiou.^[4] She studied law at the Law School of the University of Athens, International and European Law at Paris X Nanterre and a post-graduate course at Sorbonne on European Criminal Law and European Anti-crime Policies.^[4] In parallel, in 1998–2000, she participated in the French prisoners education programme, teaching English at the Fresnes Prison.^[4] In 2001, she worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She then completed a second post-graduate course on Human Rights and Criminal Law at Columbia University, while working at the office of the Greek Permanent Representative to the United Nations.^[4]

Since 2003 she has been an active lawyer in Greece, focusing on penal and international criminal law and human rights.^[4] She first stood for office in the 2009 European elections for SYRIZA, and was elected for the first time to the Hellenic Parliament in the May 2012 election for Athens A. Re-elected in the June 2012 election, she served in the 2012–14 parliament as a member of the committees on Institutions and Transparency, Public Order and Justice, European Affairs, the Permanent Public Administration Committee, and the Inter-party Committee on German War Reparations.^[4]

Delaying the trial of an accused rapist

As defense counsel for a man accused^[5] of rape, Konstantopoulou was accused by four rape victims of using all means to delay the trial of her client. According to the victims, the trial was delayed by Konstantopoulou primarily by regularly raising procedural obstacles to postpone the trial, even though the victims had traveled from Canada and Australia to attend the trial.^[6] The main reason Konstantopoulou stated for requesting delays was her pressing obligations at other trials. The trial was originally to be held in 2006, but the man was not finally convicted until 2012.^[7]

Mrs. Konstantopoulou was also criticized by women's organisations and by the Greek branch of Helsinki Monitor.^[8] The River leader and MP Stavros Theodorakis regularly taunted Mrs. Konstantopoulou in parliament about her role in what became known as the "rapist with the tyropita (cheese pies)" scandal.^[9] Recently Mrs. Konstantopoulou switched off Theodorakis's microphone when he was speaking in parliament about her role in the affair.^[10]

Speaker of the House

Zoi Konstantopoulou in July 2015, after the referendum.

On 6 February 2015, after SYRIZA's victory in the January 2015 election, she was elected as the youngest Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament with 235 votes.^[4]

In July 2015 she spoke against the Greek government's agreement with the European troika regarding the political and economic countermeasures to the Greek government-debt crisis after the results of the bailout referendum in 2015.^[11]

References

1. "Greece's SYRIZA-led coalition govt line-up unveiled". Xinhua. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
2. "Zoe Konstantopoulou elected youngest ever House president". Times of Change. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
3. "Lafazanis: Drachma not a catastrophe for Greece". Proto Thema. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
4. Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου, η νεότερη πρόεδρος στην ιστορία της Βουλής (in Greek). in.gr. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
5. "SYRIZA deputy defends rapist | grreporter.info- News from Greece - Breaking News, Business, Sport, Multimedia and Video". grreporter.info. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
6. "The Beginning of the End". Athensrapetrial.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
7. "Stavros, Zoe and …6 postponements in trial of 'cheese pie rapist'". Proto Thema. 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
8. "Parallel Report on Greece’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women : An Update (June 2012 – January 2013)" (PDF). OHCHR. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
9. "Ο βιαστής με την τυρόπιτα, η Καναδέζα και η Ζωή". Proto Thema. 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
10. "Θεοδωράκης προς ΣΥΡΙΖΑ: Είστε κομματικοί υπάλληλοι! (pics) | Plus: Πολιτική". gazzetta.gr. 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
11. "NO to ultimatums, NO to the memoranda of servitude – Speech delivered by the president of the Greek parliament". Europe solidaire sans frontières (in French). 11 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.

External links

• Official website (Greek)
• CV and office terms of Zoe Konstantopoulou at the Hellenic Parliament (English)