#kostopoulos

[elladastinkardiamou]

Zak Kostopoulos died of heart attack induced by beating-trauma, coroner tells court

Zak Kostopoulos died of a heart attack that was probably induced by trauma during a double beating, the coroner who conducted the autopsy on the 33-year-old LGBTO activist told a court in Athens on Tuesday. The trial started with two civilians and four police officers sitting on the defendant benches.

“I have seen cases of beatings where the person had a heart attack and died, though this is not common. We did not, however, ascertain any other pathological causes,” coroner Nikos Kalogrias.

He stressed that “tests have ruled out other mechanisms that could have led to this.”

Ka;ogrias’ testimony challenged claims by the defense that Zak Kostopoulos may have been under the influence of some substance or had some underlying medical condition that contributed to his death.

After the video of the beating was displayed the lawyer of the jewelry shop owner asked the medical examiner which of the beatings triggered the heart attack.

The coroner responded “All the beatings, all 23, but I cannot quantify them.”

[elladastinkardiamou]

This week’s newsletter from AthensLive is out: * “I am visiting Zak’s grave and I tell him ‘pity you weren’t a thief. They would have arrested you, but you would have been alive.” * Blood strawberries & Activists living a nightmare. * Greece is not aging well.

- are the main headlines to be found inside this highly informative weekly must-read from and about Greece. An important trial just started after being canceled in 2020 due to the lockdown. It’s the trial for the violent death of queer activist Zackie Oh. The Press has not been permitted to properly cover the event. Strawberry fields migrant workers’ shanties burned down for unknown reasons. At this period they have started unionizing. In the same “series” of migration policy in Greece, Dutch citizens have been reportedly detained and subjected to humiliating treatment seemingly because they eye-witnessed Somalis arriving in Lesbos. Greece is aging fast and it also has a huge debt and deficit. The country just doesn’t seem viable anymore. Add to these headlines and main features a lot more overview and details about a variety of aspects of Greece during the week - together with an abundance of links to further reading and to more knowledge about Greece today.

By reading the newsletter - and even better by subscribing or becoming a supporting member - you will also find a lot of links to other sources and to events and developments that you will not otherwise come across. And even if some of them are in Greek only, by using a Translator in your browser, it will be easy to read no matter how familiar you are with the Greek language.

It cannot be recommended strongly enough to read and share this week’s updates on the events and developments in Greece here:

https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=d4f2da07ebb5f5e4d14ad8e2d&id=c6f0db30c6

For anyone with a wish or need to follow and to gain an insight into recent events in Greece and to read and support independent and investigative journalism in English, the weekly newsletter from AthensLive should be a core element in the reading flow.

If you want the best overview of the events and developments in Greece right now, this is the place to go. Not the mainstream Greek news, but independent journalism with sharp analysis and links to interesting and important topics from a variety of sources.

Become a member and get the newsletter in your inbox every week here:

http://bit.ly/2GkVuYt

[elladastinkardiamou]

Zak Kostopoulos: Trial begins three years after the brutal killing of LGBT activist

Three years after the brutal killing of LGBT activist Zak Kostopoulos, the trial finally began on Wednesday morning in Athens. Two businessmen and four police officers are being accused of fatal bodily harm of the 33-year-old Zak who was brutally beaten and died on a sidewalk in downtown Athens.

The offenders are the owner of a jewelry shop and a real estate broker as well as four police officers who rushed to the spot.

Footage from the killing showed the businessmen brutally beating the victim and the police officers mistreating Zak as they tried to handcuff a severely injured civilian who was dying on the street in the early afternoon light on Glastonos street in downtown Athens.

The material that is part of the case file is expected to be shown in court, media reported. The death of Zak Kostopoulos practically took place “in public view” -so the Civil Action  –  and had shocked a large part of the Greek society due to the brutality of the beating. The trial was supposed to begin a year earlier but it was postponed due to the pandemic measures. The first day started with the court rejecting the family lawyers’ request for relocation to a bigger court room to allow more access journalists and photo-reporters. human rights organizations and public. The court ruled to allow up to 4 journalists and each one representatives from the LGBT community and Amnesty International. Access to photo-reporters was denied.

[elladastinkardiamou]

Thousands march in Athens demanding Justice for murdered Zak Kostopoulos

Chanting “Justice for Zackie” thousands of people marched on Tuesday evening to commemorate the brutal murder of LGBTIO activist Zak Kostopoulos three years ago. People gathered at the spot where Zackie was killed by a shop owner and his friend on September 21, 2018.

They laid flowers, messages and candles on Gladstonos Street and then marched to Syntagma Square and to the Parliament.

In a joint statement, organizations, collectives of the LGBTIO community, feminists groups and leftists said that they were marching “to shout out his unjust treatment and to defend his/her name, our own lives, our safety, our bodies – to claim our right to exist without fear and shame, our right to love.”

The brutal murder of 33-year-old Zak Kostopoulos on an early afternoon was recorded with a camera, his two attackers could not but accept their action.

[elladastinkardiamou]

On this afternoon three years ago, Zak Kostopoulos was murdered in Athens.  Rest In Power https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-zak-kostopoulos https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/20/long-fight-for-justice-over-death-of-greek-lgbt-activist-zak-kostopoulos

[elladastinkardiamou]

'Zak's an icon': the long fight for justice over death of Greek LGBT activist

Days after his death in the heart of Athens, the image of Zak Kostopoulos began to appear across the city centre, on buildings and nondescript office blocks, the marble steps of neoclassical mansions, walls and columns.

On Gladstonos street there were also words, some sprayed, some stencilled, some handwritten, but all amounting to the same thing: a memorial to a man who dared to be different.

It was here that the LGBTQ+ activist, drag artist and columnist was killed in broad daylight on 21 September 2018.

Informally renamed Zackie Oh after Kostopoulos’s alter ego, the pedestrian sidestreet is now a symbol of the fight for justice in a case that has not only exposed profound homophobia in Greece but a culture of “abuse and impunity” in its police force.

Kostopoulos, a vocal campaigner for HIV-positive people like himself, was 33 years old when he was killed in a jewellery shop on Gladstonos. How he got trapped in the store remains unknown. What is clear from video clips that later emerged of his death is the violence that he endured.

“It was a lynching. There’s no other way to describe it,” said Philippos Karagiorgis, who is seen in the footage, arms outstretched, attempting to stop the attack. “He was … on all fours like a baby, desperately trying to crawl through the shattered glass of the shop’s window. Every time he tried to get up, these two men would kick him in the head, again and again.”

Karagiorgis, who will testify when the case is brought to trial, witnessed the assault after his motorbike ran out of fuel and puttered to a standstill nearby. “There was a lot of commotion, a lot of screaming,” said the salesman, speaking about the incident for the first time. “What I’ll never forget was the apathy of the crowd, people sitting there in the cafes, watching as if it was a movie, when it was the most aggressive, inhuman thing I’ve ever seen. My soul darkened that day.”

[elladastinkardiamou]

Trial of activist’s death postponed indefinitely due to pandemic

The trial over the death of 33-year-old LGBTQI activist Zak Kostopoulos in September 2018 in central Athens has been postponed indefinitely as the court decided that the room where the trial is being held does not fulfil the safety measures required in the pandemic.

The trial started on October 21, but it had not progressed much. No new date was announced.

Six people – two store owners and four police officers – are facing charges of causing fatal bodily harm.

Kostopoulos was killed after he entered a jewelry store in downtown Athens and was attacked by the business’s owner and another man who allegedly mistook him for a robber. Four police officers who arrived at the scene were shown in a video hitting him while he was on the ground.

The government later announced that all courts would suspend their operation for the duration of the lockdown.

[spoilersgr]

Γκλέτσος - Κωστόπουλος: Πιάστηκαν στα χέρια

Ο Απόστολος Γκλέτσος βρέθηκε καλεσμένος στην εκπομπή Dot και εξομολογήθηκε ένα περιστατικό, όπου έπαιξε ξύλο με τον Πέτρο Κωστόπουλο, πριν από πολλά χρόνια, όταν φωτογραφήθηκε με την Άννα Μαρία Παπαχαραλάμπους, την εποχή που πρωταγωνιστούσαν στους «Ψίθυρους Καρδιάς».  «Κάναμε φωτογράφιση με την Άννα Μαρία Παπαχαραλάμπους και θα μας έβαζαν εξώφυλλο. Αλλά δεν μας έβαλαν ποτέ εξώφυλλο, μας έβαλαν μέσα. Πήρα τηλέφωνο και ρώτησα γιατί και κάποιος μου απάντησε “έτσι γουστάραμε”. Κι εγώ πήρα τηλέφωνο τον Πέτρο Κωστόπουλο. Δαρθήκαμε κανονικά, έπεσε ξύλο. Πιαστήκαμε στα χέρια κι έπεσαν κάτι… ψιλές, μπορεί και χοντρές, έπεσαν όμως. Μετά όμως γίναμε φίλοι», περιέγραψε. Στο Ηράκλειο για ακόμα μία φορά, ταξίδεψε ο Γιώργος Αγγελόπουλος για φιλανθρωπικό σκοπό και για το Make a Wish. Ο ίδιος φωτογραφήθηκε με τρία χαριτωμένα κοριτσάκια και σχολίασε στη λεζάντα της φωτογραφίας: "Με την καλύτερη παρέα" Δείτε την ανάρτησή του: