ATHENS – Greek police arrested the former artistic director of the country’s prestigious National Theater on Saturday night, who has been the target of accusations of abuse and sexual harassment that have hit the Greek arts world in recent weeks.
Dimitris Lignadis surrendered to the Athens police headquarters shortly after being informed that a warrant had been issued against his arrest for rape, said his lawyer, Nikos Georgouleas, in a text message. Speaking later outside the police headquarters, where his client was being held, Georgouleas said his client denied the charges.
“Everything that is being heard, he denies,” said the lawyer.
Lignadis is best known among the countless directors and actors cited in a torrent of accusations that rocked the Greek art world. And the charges against him are among the most serious. He resigned his position at the National Theater earlier this month after reports emerged suggesting that he had sexually harassed young actors, which he angrily denied. After his resignation, more reports emerged, alleging more serious abuses.
The revolt in the Greek art world came after an Olympic sailor, Sofia Bekatorou, accused a top sailing official last month of sexually abusing her in 1998. Her charges represented the first charge of sexual assault and abuse of power in Greece since o The #MeToo movement swept the world, taking down powerful figures from sport, the media and more.
On Friday, Greece’s Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, said she asked the country’s Supreme Court to investigate a flood of sexual assault charges, especially those involving child abuse.
In her comments, Ms. Mendoni stressed the need for “catharsis” in the cultural sector in Greece and said that sexual abuse, especially against minors, should not go unpunished.
The scandal that has unfolded has fueled a vehement political struggle in Greece. Mendoni’s detractors blame her for naming Lignadis for the National Theater in 2019. Defending her ministry’s actions, Ms. Mendoni said that neither she nor the country’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, met Lignadis “in person” and only the knew as an actor.
“Mr. Lignadis is a dangerous man, but that has now emerged,” said the minister. She said she felt “cheated” by him.
“With a deep acting talent, he tried to convince us that he had nothing to do with all of this,” said Mendoni, referring to the abuse allegations.
Mitsotakis, the prime minister, also referred to the growing number of accusations of sexual abuse and harassment in the Greek performing arts during a televised meeting with President Katerina Sakellaropoulou on Friday.
“Sexual abuse of minors is the most abominable version of this phenomenon,” said Mitsotakis at the meeting. “In the public dialogue that has happily started, we must reach the greatest possible political and social consensus if we are to tackle the problem,” he said.
Greek prosecutors are due to begin calling witnesses next week for a broader investigation into allegations of abuse and harassment in the Greek arts world, starting with the country’s head of actors’ union, Spyros Bibilas, who said the union was inundated with complaints from actors reporting alleged abuses.
In a statement issued after Lignadis’s arrest on Saturday, the Greek Ministry of Justice said the judicial authorities “will do whatever is necessary to ensure that everything comes to light in this very obscure case and that justice is done”.