Source : Perth Now news
False accusations about the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia have cost a journalist more than $300,000.
Alkis Morelas was found on Friday to have defamed Archbishop Makarios Griniezakis in four online articles he wrote for a Greek-language website called Greek Flash News.
The archbishop has overseen the church throughout Australia and Oceania since 2019.
Morelas falsely accused the archbishop of stealing money from a Black Summer bushfire charity appeal, spending church money on personal holidays and failing to take action against a priest accused of child sexual abuse.
Federal Court Justice Wendy Abraham found Morelas, a veteran Greek Australian journalist who largely represented himself in the case, made up evidence and distorted information.
As a result of the false information, Archbishop Makarios testified he was humiliated and offended by the articles.
He was contacted by the global leader of the church, Patriarch Bartholomew, and regularly asked by his community about the allegations.
Witnesses testified seeing him cry on several occasions.
The Greek-language website had about 2000 monthly visitors over the relevant times in 2021 and 2022.
Morelas attempted to defend the accusations saying the articles were his honest opinion and he had qualified privilege to make the claims.
But Justice Abraham dismissed the defences, saying there was no reasonable justification for publishing the falsehoods.
“Mr Morelas accepted in cross-examination that he had no personal knowledge about what was happening,” she wrote in her judgment.
“There is no reliable evidence of appropriate fact-checking before publication.”
The court found Morales did not contact the media unit for the archdiocese to give the archbishop a chance to respond to his false claims.
The reporter used “florid and offensive language” in the four pieces, Justice Abraham said.
“Pervert”, “representative of Satan” and “whore of the Archdiocese” were terms used to refer to the archbishop.
Morales also said Archbishop Makarios executed “contracts of death” against those who went against him.
He refused to use the spiritual leader’s correct title during cross-examination and his justification for the insult was “ridiculous”, the judge found.
The archbishop, who the judge found was a credible and reliable witness, gave evidence he spent between $60,000 and $80,000 annually, mostly on travelling around Australia attending to his duties.
“His evidence was that his strictly personal expenses were modest. There is no evidence to the contrary,” the judge found.
Aggravated damages were awarded to the archbishop, in part because Morales continued to publish the defamatory allegations after being told to stop by the court.
“(Morales) has not apologised, but rather took the opportunity to make further allegations,” Justice Abraham wrote.
Morales was ordered to pay $300,000 in damages including $50,000 in aggravated damages.
The career journalist with 55 years under his belt was also ordered to pay the archbishop’s costs in the case.
