Prosecutor, police conduct midnight raid on Skai TV to arrest sports journalist

A prosecutor and police officers entered the building of Skai TV on Athens’s southern coast in the early hours of Tuesday to execute a warrant for the arrest of journalist Kyriakos Thomaidis, presenter of the show “Trial on Skai,” which addresses controversial issues in Greek sports.

After entering a studio that was hosting a live show at the time, police searched the premises for the journalist for about 40 minutes before leaving at 2.40 a.m. but were unable to locate him as his weekly program had been recorded earlier on Monday.

Skai TV’s management said the midnight raid was “unprecedented” and an “affront to the rule of law and the freedom of the press.”

In its statement, it said the warrant for Thomaidis’s arrest had been issued following a complaint from Vangelis Marinakis, owner of Olympiakos soccer club.