Nikos Sakellariou

Judge Nikos Sakellariou, who recently resigned as head of the Council of State, has received a letter threatening his "conviction by the people's court."

The surprise resignation of Nikos Sakellariou as chair of the Council of State, Greece's highest administrative court, last week has rekindled the debate over political interference in the judicial system.

Recent developments in Greece's judicial sector are unprecedented - not to mention extremely worrying. 

The identity of the individuals involved is not the real issue here. 

In a historically unprecedented move, the president of the Council of State, Nikos Sakellariou, on Wednesday quit his post over leaks to the media of the court's deliberations on a new round of pension cuts due to come into effect next year.

Greek opposition parties blamed the government for the resignation of the president of the Council of State on Wednesday, saying it is a strong indication of its interference in Justice.

Nikos Sakellariou announced Wednesday he was stepping down as president of Greece's highest administrative court, in the first such resignation in the court's history. 

A 58-year-old woman has been arrested for sending dozens of letters to ministers, judges, embassies, politicians and state officials threatening violence.

A prosecutor's order calling for the case of six advisers to the country's privatization agency TAIPED to be reopened was seen on Wednesday as more or less expected, given that it is back in the hands of the same prosecutor, Andreas Karaflos.

In the latest war of words between the leftist government and the Greek judiciary, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told state broadcaster ERT on Monday that he did not understand why the opinion that judges should submit their declaration of assets electronically, like other civil servants, should be regarded as a political intervention.

The head of Greece's top constitutional court accused the government of intervention in justice, with the opposition calling for the resignation of minister Stavros Kontonis.