To mark the five-year anniversary of the murder of Greek crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, the International Press Institute (IPI) today renews our call to Greek law enforcement authorities to provide answers for his family and ensure those responsible finally face justice for this crime.
IPI also warns that the 2021 assassination of Karaivaz is now the only case involving the killing of a journalist in the European Union in the last decade to remain in a state of total impunity with no convictions or justice secured, according to our monitoring.
While other cases of journalist killings in the EU during this period, such as Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Jan Kuciak in Slovakia, and Peter R. de Vries in the Netherlands, have all seen some of those responsible convicted, even if the alleged masterminds have not yet been jailed, Greece stands out as the only country to fail to make any such progress.
IPI directly calls on Greek government and law enforcement authorities to ensure all required resources are provided to this ongoing criminal investigation, if required with international partners. All efforts must be taken to ensure this case does not remain in a state of impunity, which will continue to undermine the wider climate for media freedom in Greece.
Karaivaz was shot dead by gunman riding a motorcycle near his home in the outskirts of Athens on 9 April 2021. The hit was widely seen as a professional contract killing linked to his long reporting on organised crime groups and the criminal underworld.
Two men initially arrested in April 2023 and charged with carrying out the hit were acquitted in July 2024 due to a lack of evidence. The Greek Supreme Court upheld the acquittal in December 2024. It also ruled that the killing was directly linked to his journalism. Since then, no further arrests have been made and no visible progress has been achieved, despite repeated requests from IPI and other media freedom partners.
IPI has pushed for justice in this case for years, visited the site of the murder, and met with Karaivaz’s family in Athens in 2023. On the anniversary of the killing, we renew our call to Greek law enforcement authorities to ensure that those responsible for commissioning, orchestrating and carrying out this killing finally face justice for their crimes.
IPI article: Who killed Giorgos Karaivaz?
More IPI press freedom advocacy on Greece
This statement was coordinated by IPI as part of its work under the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries
