Greek journalist faces retrial over "Lagarde list" The Athens prosecutor has ordered the retrial of Costas Vaxevanis, a Greek investigative journalist acquitted earlier this month of violating data privacy laws by publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with bank accounts at a Swiss branch of HSBC. The prosecutor's office said on Friday the acquittal on November 1 was "legally flawed" and Mr Vaxevanis would be tried again by a higher misdemeanours court. No date has been announced for the new trial. Haris Economopoulos, his lawyer, said: "It is unheard of for a prosecutor to appeal a judge's decision unless the public interest is under threat ... and in this case Mr Vaxevanis was serving the public interest." The case attracted a storm of international media attention. The so-called "Lagarde list" of Greek accountholders at HSBC's Geneva branch was published last month in Hot Doc, the investigative magazine Mr Vaxavanis edits. "None of those named in the list brought defamation charges against Mr Vaxevanis," Mr Economopoulos said. Following Mr Vaxevanis's acquittal, a Greek financial prosecutor asked parliament to investigate why two former finance ministers did not pursue possible tax evaders on the list. George Papaconstantinou requested and received the list in 2010 from Christine Lagarde, then his French opposite number. But Ioannis Kapeleris, the head of the financial police, testified that he was not instructed by Mr Papaconstantinou to pursue the matter. Evangelos Venizelos, the next finance minister, also allowed the issue to lapse. Yannis Stournaras, the current finance minister has asked French authorities to provide another official copy of the list.