Officers involved in Kostopoulos death facing dismissal

 An administrative inquiry into the actions of eight police officers responding to  a disturbance in downtown Athens that resulted in the death of LGBTQ activist Zak Kostopoulos in September recommends the dismissal of four of the officers, ANA-MPA said on Friday.

According to police sources quoted by the news agency, the inquiry also found that the other four officers should be put on administrative leave and possibly sacked.

The report, the news agency added, has not been forwarded yet to  Greek Police (ELAS) chief Aristeidis Andrikopoulos, who has the final say on the fate of the eight officers accused of excessive use of force.

They were charged after a video emerged showing them surrounding 33-year-old Kostopoulos as he lay bleeding on the ground after a brutal assault by a jewelry store owner and another man who thought the activist was trying to rob the business.

In the footage from the September 21 incident, at least one officer is seen kicking the prone 33-year-old and another stepping on his arm.

In their testimony to an examining magistrate earlier this month, the eight police officers said they had acted according to their training for subduing an armed suspect.

The autopsy, published in November, concluded that Kostopoulos died of a heart attack as a consequence of repeated blunt trauma and that he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.