Zoe Konstantopoulou
| Zoe Konstantopoulou | |
|---|---|
| Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου | |
| File:Zoe Konstantopoulou Greece.jpg | |
| 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 47) Athens, Greece |
| Political party | Coalition of the Radical Left (2012-2015) Popular Unity (2015-2016) Course of Freedom (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 |
Zoe Konstantopoulou (Greek: Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου; born December 8, 1976) is a Greek lawyer and politician who served as Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament in 2015.
On 27 January 2015, as a member of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), she was nominated as Speaker of 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 supported the Popular Unity party, formed from former members of SYRIZA's Left Platform, in the September 2015 parliamentary election.[3] In April 2016, Konstantopoulou launched a new party named Course of Freedom, of which she is currently the leader.[4]
Contents
Life
Born in December 1976 in Athens, she is the daughter of former Synaspismos chairman Nikos Konstantopoulos and his wife Lina Alexiou.[5] 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.[5] In parallel, in 1998–2000, she participated in the French prisoners education programme, teaching English at the Fresnes Prison.[5] 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.[5]
Since 2003 she has been an active lawyer in Greece, focusing on penal and international criminal law and human rights.[5] 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.[5]
Delaying the trial of an accused rapist
As defense counsel for a man accused[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]
Konstantopoulou was also criticized by women's organisations and by the Greek branch of Helsinki Monitor.[9] The River leader and MP Stavros Theodorakis regularly taunted Konstantopoulou in parliament about her role in what became known as the "rapist with the tyropita (cheese pies)" scandal.[10] In Parliament, Konstantopoulou switched off Theodorakis's microphone when he was speaking about her role in the affair.[11]
Speaker of the House
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.[5]
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.[12]
References
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External links
- No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata. (Greek)
- CV and office terms of Zoe Konstantopoulou at the Hellenic Parliament (English)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament 6 February – 4 October 2015 |
Succeeded by Nikos Voutsis |
- Use dmy dates from January 2015
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles containing Greek-language text
- Official website missing URL
- Articles with Greek-language external links
- 1976 births
- People from Athens
- Living people
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
- University of Paris alumni
- Greek women lawyers
- Human rights lawyers
- Greek women in politics
- Syriza politicians
- Greek MPs 2012 (May)
- Greek MPs 2012–14
- Greek MPs 2015 (February–August)
- Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament
