In September, Big Government first reported that Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias may have dodged the Greek military service requirement when he lived and worked in Greece in the late 1990s:
But one thing we still don’t know is how an American with Greek citizenship was able to live in Greece without being drafted into the Greek military.
The Giannoulias campaign flatly denied any wrongdoing at the time – claiming Greece had no service requirement when Giannoulias lived there. The Springfield-based State Journal-Register reported:
“There was no draft when he was there” while playing basketball, she added.
But according to a legal analysis prepared by a prestigious Athens-based law firm, the Giannoulias campaign lied to reporters.
The legal memorandum, issued by the Law Office of P. Yatagantzidis & Associates and obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD, states that mandatory military service was in effect when Alexi Giannoulias was in Greece and would have applied to a dual citizen like Giannoulias.
… There was a military service obligation in the year 1998 for all Greeks including those living abroad…
… The individual referred to in the facts, is a Greek citizen since he has a Greek father, so in principle he has to serve in the Greek armed forces. Assuming that he settled in the States before the age of eleven and resided there permanently, he is qualified as “permanent resident abroad” in the sense of law…
… Assuming that the individual stayed in Greece for more than six months in a single calendar year, it is difficult to imagine of legal reasons to get around the service obligation.
The memorandum suggests that if Alexi Giannoulias lived in Greece for more than six months in any calendar year, he was required to serve in the military. News reports indicate Giannoulias lived in Greece for at least one year. From the Chicago Tribune:
Alexi Giannoulias has built his entire campaign for U.S. Senate around attacks against a man who volunteered to serve in the military. If voters found out Giannoulias dodged his own military service requirement, his campaign message could be wholly undermined.
So the key question for Alexi Giannoulias is this: Why did you dodge the draft?
Here’s the full text of the legal opinion offered by the Law Office of P. Yatagantzidis & Associates:
