Surveillance Video Showed Suspects in Greek Journalist's Murder

As Greek police were sifting through the news stories of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz for clues why he was shot dead outside his home, a security camera caught on video a motor scooter carrying two men who fled, one of whom fired the shots.

Karaivaz, a police and crime reporter for Star TV, was hit 10 times in a fusillade of bullets as he stepped out of his car, police questioning witnesses, including workers from a municipal work crew pruning trees who saw the April 9 murder.

Karaivaz had worked for a number of Greek media outlets and broadcasters and was known for his coverage of crime and the police and founded Bloko, a news website concentrating on law enforcement, reports said.

The driver was wearing a helmet while the passenger, who shot Karaivaz, was wearing a beanie and a neck fleece and got off the scooter to fire two final shots to the victim's head as he lay on the ground, said the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

Analysis of the video from cameras in the area made available to police reportedly showed the suspects arrived at the spot 10 minutes earlier and waited for him to park before executing him.

Detectives said a second group may have followed the journalist and provided information on his route home.

The autopsy showed Karaivaz was hit six times in the torso, once in the neck and left palm and the final head shots, the weapon likely using a silencer, confirming witness reports.

“I tried to park my car where he lay. I thought someone had fainted. He was lying face down," one witness told local television. "Blood was flowing onto the sidewalk."

The state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency (ANA-MPA) reported that police were examining Karaivaz's cell phone and computer and believe it was a professional execution, although the motive is not known.

Authorities said Karaivaz had not requested police protection nor reported any death threats.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ordered a swift investigation of the killing that he said “shocked us all.” Media groups in Greece, the European Union and other countries denounced the murder and called for the killers to be found.

That could prove difficult, as Deputy Citizens Protection Minister Lefteris Economou told state broadcaster ERT the killing may be tied to organized crime, with rival gangs engaged in a long-running turf war, and use hit men from other countries.

The key question, media freedom groups said, is whether Karaivaz was killed for his work as were investigative journalists Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova in Slovakia in February 2018 and Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in October 2017.

Both reporters were writing about corruption at the highest levels and the deaths sparked mass protests that brought down their governments although who ordered the killings hasn't been determined.

It was the first time a Greek journalist was killed since the unsolved slaying of investigative reporter Sokratis Giolias in 2010, shot 16 times when he opened the door of his house. He was lured with reports his car was being stolen, the site Documento had reported.

The killing of Karaivaz came two weeks after the European Commission launched a program it hoped would provide protections for journalists who are increasingly targets of harassment and threats.

Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova said then that the killings of Caruana Galizia and Kuciak "should have been a wake-up call," but said attacks and threats were increasing.

She tweeted that she was “deeply shocked” by the killing of Karaivaz and that “#Justice should be served, and the safety of the journalists should be guaranteed.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the killing a"despicable, cowardly" murder while European Parliament speaker David Sassoli tweeted that he was "devastated" by the news, the BBC said.

"It was a professional hit," an unnamed police official told the Reuters news agency. Government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni said the murder “shocked us all,” adding that, “Authorities are already investigating in order to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice”.Karaivaz had not requested police protection, nor reported any death threats, according to the Associated Press.

"On (the Prime Minister's) express orders, the investigation will be expedited to the maximum degree," Citizen's Protection Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis told reporters.

Greek media said the suspects were waiting in ambush near the journalist's house and had allegedly watched him for days and knew when he was returning home. The results of ballistic tests will show whether the weapons used to kill Karaivaz were used in other crimes, police said.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said: “We must ensure that journalists can play their crucial role in our democracies by guaranteeing that they work in complete safety,” said EURACTIV.

In a report published in April 2020, the Council of Europe said that it had recorded in 2019 some 142 serious threats to media freedom, including 33 physical attacks against journalists, as well as 17 cases of detention and imprisonment and 43 cases of harassment and intimidation, the site noted.

Committee to Protect Journalists Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna condemned the shooting, expressed condolences and said that, “Authorities must determine whether Karaivaz was targeted for his work, and should do everything possible to find the killers and bring them to justice.”

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a group that documents attacks on the press across Europe, said it was “horrified” by the shooting, which “appears to bear all the signs of a targeted assassination.”

“Regardless of the motive, the killing of Giorgos (George) Karaivaz is a tragic event for the journalistic community in Greece and a dark day for media freedom in the European Union,” the MFRR said, the Voice of America reported.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that, "a new assassination of a journalist on European soil can have a considerable impact."

The Athens Journalists’ Union (ESHEA) said it was “shocked” by the assassination and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Maria Antoniadou, head of the journalists union ESIEA, said: “Whoever thinks that, in this way, they can silence journalists – there are another 6,099 who will investigate and demand to know what has happened.”

She said that, “Journalists are not intimidated by killings, injuries and threats and points out that it will defend the freedom of the press and the unimpeded work of journalists against any pressure and threat, much more against mafia practices and criminal plans”.

Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Greek authorities to "fully investigate this crime and ensure that those responsible are held accountable."

In July, 2020, tabloid owner Stefanos Chios survived after being shot in the neck and chest by a hooded man outside his home, the case being investigated.

A squad of 12 police guards for a TV presenter, Menios Fourthiotis, was pulled a week before the Karaivaz killing after an outcry.

It was reported he requested protection after a fire at the guard box outside his home and a car burned outside the TV station where he works.