Jerusalem court rules election of Greek patriarch as `illegal´

Athens (ENI). The election in 2001 of Irineos I as the Greek Orthodox patriarch of the Holy Land has been declared illegal by an Israeli court which has called for the election to be re-run, a lawyer for the church leader has said in Athens. The patriarchate’s Greek lawyer, Frangiskos Ragousis, said Patriarch Irineos learned of the court judgement only from the media.
Neither the Patriarch nor any representative of the church leader had been asked to testify before the court, he added.