ATHENS, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A veteran Greek crime reporter was
gunned down outside his Athens home on Friday, police said, sending
shockwaves in a country unaccustomed to media killings.
“The murder has shocked us all,” government spokeswoman Aristotelia
Peloni said in a statement.
“The authorities are already investigating the case,” she added.
Giorgos Karaivaz, who worked for private TV station Star and also
ran the news blog bloko.gr, was shot several times as he exited his
car outside his house in the southern Athens district of Alimos,
witnesses said.
“I am deeply shocked following reports that journalist Giorgos
Karaivaz was shot dead in Athens,” vice president of the EU commission
in charge of values and transparency, Vera Jourova, said in a tweet.
A police source said the journalist, who was in his fifties, had
been shot by two men on a motorbike. Seventeen bullet casings were
recovered from the scene.
“Somebody chose to silence him, to stop him with bullets from
writing his stories,” Karaivaz’s blog said.
“6,099 reporters will fight to uncover what happened,” said Maria
Antoniadou, head of the Esiea union of Athens daily newspaper
journalists.
Karaivaz, who was one of Greece’s longest-tenured and best known
crime reporters, was married and has a 21-year-old son.
While Greek media offices are frequently targeted in firebomb and
vandalism attacks, journalist killings are rare in Greece.
Some journalists request police protection after receiving threats,
but Karaivaz was unguarded.
In July, tabloid newspaper owner Stefanos Chios survived after
being shot in the neck and chest by a hooded man outside his home.
The case is still under investigation.
In 2010, radio manager, blogger and investigative journalist
Socratis Giolias was gunned down outside his home.
A shadowy far-left group claimed responsibility for the crime but
the case was never solved. — NNN-AGENCIES
