Dear ASA Community,
ASA President Robert Santos has issued a statement in reaction to a Greek appeals court decision finding former Greek chief statistician Andreas Georgiou liable for slander. The slander charge relates to a public statement Georgiou made in his official role as president of the national statistics office of Greece (ELSTAT) while fulfilling his responsibility to defend the official deficit and debt statistics for Greece produced under his leadership. These statistics had been fully validated by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. The statement and details are at this url: https://www.amstat.org/asa/News/Greek-Statistician-Found-Liable-for-Slander-Continues-to-Face-Persecution.aspx. Greece's prosecution of Georgiou on several closely related charges is now in its tenth year with the initial legal proceedings against him having begun in September 2011. Both Santos and Executive Director Ron Wasserstein call for an end to the persecution and urge Georgiou be exonerated.
We would welcome your continued support for Andreas Georgiou. One way to do this is through social media posts-both Twitter and LinkedIn-deploring the continuing persecution. Please use these hashtags for social media posts: #JusticeForGeorgiou and #AndreasGeorgiou.
Sincerely,
Steve
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Steve Pierson
Director of Science Policy
American Statistical Association
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