This is a black week for press freedom in Greece, where impunity remains the norm. 

A Greek court acquitted two men who had faced charges of killing a prominent crime journalist. On 9 April 2021, investigative journalist Giorgos Karaivaz was returning home from a daytime show on STAR TV when he was shot dead near his home in Alimos by professional killers who then fled on a motorbike. The suspects, two brothers, were apprehended in April 2023, one of them allegedly linked to a protection racket associated with the Greek mafia.

In a majority ruling, a seven-judge criminal court said prosecutors had failed to prove the guilt of the two defendants. The two accused, siblings aged 49 and 41, had pleaded not guilty to charges of intentional murder. During the trial, prosecutors had suggested Karaivaz’s death was related to revelations the journalist was expected to make on the operation of organised crime networks in the country.

EFJ President Maja Sever attended the opening of the trial, on 5 July, in Athens. She called on the court: “to ensure that this terrible murder does not go unpunished by prosecuting those responsible for shooting Karaivaz and those who ordered Karaivaz’s murder”. The IFJ and the EFJ join their Greek affiliates, JUADN, Esiemth, PFJU and Espit, in deploring an acquittal that leaves this crime unpunished.

The court’s decision, which prolongs the impunity of the perpetrators and instigators of the journalist’s murder, comes on the heels of another disturbing court decision concerning the Predatorgate illegal wiretapping scandal: on Tuesday, Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adelini announced that no Greek state agency had used Predator software to monitor numerous ministers, opposition politicians, journalists and businessmen, among others.

The IFJ and the EFJ are astonished by such assertions, even though many grey areas remain, starting with the failure to hear such important testimonies as those of the software developers and witnesses from Meta and Citizen Lab. “It seems that there was no desire to investigate the involvement of the secret services and the Greek government. On the contrary, it is as if the Judiciary has done everything possible to conceal the involvement of the Greek public authorities”, commented Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “We are appalled by the verdict of the court and its decision to absolve the Greek intelligence service in the ‘Predatorgate’ scandal. The IFJ stands in solidarity with Giorgos Karaivaz’s family and will not stop seeking justice until the brutal murder of our colleague is solved, and the perpetrators and masterminds are prosecuted”.

The last IFJ Executive Committee, June 2024, adopted a motion on the trial for the murder of Karaivaz. 

The IFJ, the EFJ and its Greek affiliates urge the authorities to redouble their efforts to prosecute Giorgos Karaivaz’s murderers including those who ordered the crime. We are also calling on the Greek judiciary to shed full light on the involvement of the Greek state apparatus in the ‘Predatorgate’ scandal.