‘The only game in town?’: football match-fixing in Greece

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12117-014-9239-3Football match-fixing in Greece has a relatively long history, however, from the late 1990s it has been considered as a serious problem for the sport in the country. Despite the history of the phenomenon in the country, Greece has only relatively recently been identified as one of the hotspots for football match-fixing on an international level. Following the recent scandal exposure of fixed matches in Greece in 2011, also known as Koriopolis (a pun name on the Italian scandal Calciopolis and the Greek word ‘korios’ or phone-tap), detailed information about numerous matches played in the 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons that attracted UEFA’s attention were brought into the public eye. Soon after, legal action was taken against individuals involved in the process, with a number of club officials facing lifelong bans from any footballrelated activity, and football clubs either relegated or excluded from European competitions and the Super League itself for their involvement in the scandal. In May 2013, the number of people facing charges exceeded 200, with some of them having already been imprisoned for their involvement in the scandal. Following the aforementioned scandal exposure, a vast amount of information regarding football match-fixing was made available to the public. The aim of the current article is to provide an account of the social organisation of football match-fixing in Greece. Our account is based on three main sources of data: the telephone conversations that were the result of wiretapping by the National Intelligence Agency in relation to the latest football match-fixing scandal (of 2011), published media sources, and interviews with informed actors from the realm of Greek football

Developing international business relationships in a Russian context

The collapse of the former Soviet Union has opened up a wealth of business opportunities for companies seeking new markets in the Russian Federation. Despite this, firms intending to do business in Russia have found themselves hampered by cultural differences in business practices and expectations. As Russia integrates into the global economy, understanding such practices and the managerial mindset of business people is crucial for managers who hope to navigate Russia's complex markets. This study draws on the trust literature and adopts quantitative tools to deconstruct the Russian 'Sviazi' system of social capital business networking. We develop a model isolating three dimensions of Sviazi: one an affective or emotional component; the second, a conative component; and the third, a cognitive component. The model provides a useful guide for helping foreign firms to succeed in Russia, while also serving as a basis for further research in the field. Keywords

The principles of criminal trial in the system of guarantees of the rights and legitimate interests of the suspect and defendant

Protecting citizens from crime is the most important function of any state. The object of it is as persons who have suffered from unlawful encroachments, in respect of which urgent action is required to take government measures to uncover, investigate and judicially resolve criminal cases, as well as illegally subject to criminal prosecution. From this position, both groups of people are victims of criminal encroachment, involved in the sphere of criminal jurisdiction. The principles of criminal procedural law, along with the categories of the subject and method of legal regulation, are one of the categories of a very general nature and expressing the essence of the criminal process. This article discusses the principles of criminal proceedings relating to and ensuring the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of suspects and defendants in the criminal proceedings of the Republic of Kazakhstan. To achieve the goal and objectives, an analysis of the scientific principles of the criminal process has been carried out. Some recommendations on introducing amendments to the criminal procedure legislation in the field of ensuring the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of suspects and accused are given. Separately, the essence and content of the principle of personal immunity, the principle of the presumption of innocence, and the principle of ensuring the right to defense of the suspect and the accused are examined and analyzed. The point of view is substantiated, according to which the principles of criminal procedure should be essentially a kind of concept of building the activities of state bodies and officials conducting the proceedings on the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of an individual in criminal proceedings. Key words: criminal procedure legislation; criminal trial; principles; bodies of preliminary investigation; court; prosecutor; lawyer; participants of criminal procedure; suspect; defendant; presumption of innocence; rights, freedoms and legitimate interests; inviolability of the person; right of protection