Qatargate suspect Eva Kaili wants to get out of town (for work)

 

Qatargate suspect Eva Kaili wants to get out of town (for work)

 

The EU lawmaker wants travel restrictions lifted so she can to attend plenary sessions of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

 

BY NEKTARIA STAMOULI

JUNE 1, 2023 7:34 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/eva-kaili-qatargate-corruption-european-parliament-jail-work/

 

ATHENS — Free from house arrest, Eva Kaili now also wants to travel.

 

Days after Belgian prosecutors announced she was no longer under house arrest and her electronic tag was removed, Kaili’s legal team is seeking to eliminate restrictions on being able to move freely beyond Belgium.

 

“Legal proceedings have been initiated to abolish the restrictive conditions, especially the ban on exiting the country,” her lawyers Sven Mary and Michalis Dimitrakopoulos said in a joint statement.

 

The EU lawmaker wants the travel restrictions to be lifted as she wishes to attend the next plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg mid-June, Dimitrakopoulos said.

 

On Friday, the attorneys had said that “the restrictive condition of the ban on leaving Belgium, which was imposed, does not upset her, since Kaili will return to Greece only after her judicial vindication.”

 

Despite pledges to return to work, Kaili did not attend Thursday’s session of the European Parliament “due to a personal obstacle,” her lawyers said, adding that “in the next days she will return to her duties.”

 

Kaili’s professional email address however is operational again, and she has returned to social media this week — so far retweeting a couple of stories related to her case that raise questions about how she has been treated by the Belgian authorities.

 

The politician and her partner Francesco Giorgi were the first to be detained last December by Belgian police as part of the ongoing investigation into whether foreign countries, including Qatar and Morocco, were bribing EU lawmakers.

 

Giorgi was moved from jail to house arrest in February, while Kaili’s detention was prolonged several times and she was only moved to house arrest with an electronic monitor in mid-April, pending trial.

 

Kaili’s lawyers also said that she will now be able to live under the same roof as her partner.

 

“By order of the Investigating Judge, her partner Francesco Giorgi has been allowed to live in the common residence,” they said.

 

The Greek MEP and her Italian partner — the “Brangelina” of the European Parliament — have been living in separate residences since returning home from prison. Giorgi will now be able to move back to their apartment on Rue Wiertz in Brussels, just 100 meters from the European Parliament’s main buildings, where Kaili lives with the couple’s two-year-old daughter.

 

Eddy Wax contributed reporting