A court case involving MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan which relates to an alleged hack of his Twitter account three years ago has been adjourned until January following a hearing in Brussels earlier this week.
The Castlerea MEP claims offensive comments referring to naked pictures of then Green Party candidate Saoirse McHugh were posted from his account after it was hacked in the early hours of September 28th 2020.
The accused has been named as Diarmuid Hayes, who worked as an assistant to Mr Flanagan in Brussels from 2018 to 2019. Saoirse McHugh and Emma Sheeran, an assistant of the MEP, have been named as victims in the case. Mr Hayes has yet to enter a plea.
The case, which is understood to revolve around two alleged breaches of Belgian law, was adjourned until January 3rd of next year because Mr Hayes’ lawyer must appear at the Brussels terror attacks trial.
Mr Flanagan appeared at the hearing in the Palais de Justice on Monday with members of his family. He had previously said his Twitter account had been hacked and an “extremely damaging” message was posted before being deleted. He said this was done by a third party and “against my will and knowledge”.
