Athens court acquits defendants in murder trial of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz
An Athens mixed jury court on Wednesday acquitted the two defendants in the trial for the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, who was gunned down outside his home in April 2021. The court, which included both judges and a majority of jurors, found there was insufficient evidence to convict the two brothers, aged 49 and 41, of the crime. The acquittal was decided by significant majorities of 5-2 and 6-1.
The court decision caused a sensation among the journalist’s relatives – and not only – as a few days earlier the prosecutor of the court had, in her proposal to the court, argued in favor of their guilt. The prosecutor had rejected the two defendants’ claims that they were put on the stand by a series of diabolical coincidences. The prosecutor had, among other things, argued that the murder of Karaivaz “was not a simple homicide, but was related to organized crime.”
The coordinated investigations of the competent authorities have not yet identified the instigators – i.e. the people who gave the order for the hit.
Karaivaz, an experienced crime reporter, had connections within the Greek underworld and with corrupt police officers associated with it. He was also a key witness in a 2015-2017 National Intelligence Service (EYP) investigation into corrupt police and sex/gambling rackets.
