Two years after the murder of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz on 9 April 2021, Greek Police have arrested two people with relations to the crime, Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos announced on Friday.
In a Facebook post, Minister Theodorikakos, and not the Police as usually in such cases, said that “police arrested two people – who were the subject of an arrest warrant – involved in the murder of the deceased journalist.”
The Minister informed the Prime Minister and the victim’s widow on the arrests.
The murder
53-year-old Giorgos Karaivaz was a prominent police reporter who was also investigating the so-called Greek mafia. He was shot dead outside his home in Alimos suburb of south Athens, where he was returning from work at private Star TV early afternoon.
After parking his car next to a small park and walked towards his home, he was shot at least 13 times at close range and with a pistol with a silencer.
The two arrestees
According to a police announcement, the two men arrested are Greeks, a 40-year-old and a 48-year-old, who are reportedly also brothers.
They had a supporting role, media report citing initial information. One of them was in a motorcycle and the other in a white van. It was reportedly the van that helped police track them down.
Citing police sources, newspaper ethnos.gr reports that one of the arrested is the one who allegedly pulled the trigger and executed the journalist.
Police tracked down the black motorbike which, from the data obtained from the footage provided by the cameras in the wider area where the murder took place, was driving for some time alongside a van. This van was found to belong to a cleaning company owned by the wife of one of the two arrested brothers.
The same van was spotted by cameras the previous day moving near Karaivaz’s house, the day on which his killers allegedly did the “final rehearsal.”
According to ethnos.gr, the Homicide officers had rich audio-visual material from security cameras.
The black scooter they used to get under Karaivaz house was captured by a security camera very close to the scene of the murderous ambush. The footage shows that one man was wearing a helmet, while the other had covered his face with a full face mask and a cap.. The second one, who was a co-rider was caught by another security camera, holding the nine-mm pistol with which he executed the journalist, with his right hand, between his legs.
The two arrested men are reportedly unscrupulous criminals, involved in cases of robbery and extortion, while evidence has emerged for one of his involvement in the case of the murder of boxer Haris Kontoiorgis in December 2021 in Galatsi, suburb of Athens.
According to the information of protothema.gr, the two men were arrested in Neo Voutza and Nikaia.
The two men are being held at the Homicide Department of the Greek Police and will be brought before the prosecutor tomorrow, Saturday.So far, they have refused to talk to police, newspaper efsyn.gr reports.
It should be noted that the case file contains the names of two more people, but an arrest warrant has not yet been issued for them.
“Investigations have accelerated recently,” said Minister Theodorikakos on the FB.
Θα είναι βάλσαμο εάν η δολοφονία #Καραϊβάζ όντως εξιχνιαστεί, απλά ο υπουργός θα πρέπει μάλλον και να εξηγήσει γιατί οι έρευνες της ΕΛΑΣ «επιταχύνθηκαν το τελευταίο χρονικό διάστημα».
Δηλαδή 2 χρόνια μετά τη δολοφονία του. pic.twitter.com/6yV1yhxwT2
— Stavros Malichudis (@Malichudis) April 28, 2023
Ωπα λίγο! Εντόπισαν τους δύο συλληφθέντες για τη δολοφονία του Καραϊβάζ από τις πινακίδες του βαν;
Και έκαναν δύο χρόνια να το κοιτάξουν αυτό;
🤔 pic.twitter.com/1Owm5yFCpp— Yannis Bogiopoulos (@YBoyio) April 28, 2023
Ο Θεοδωρικακος ανακοίνωσε συλλήψεις για την υπόθεση Καραϊβαζ. Το ερώτημα είναι, υπάρχουν πραγματικά στοιχεία ή πρόκειται για τα δύο πρόσωπα, αδέλφια, που ερευνούσαν από την πρώτη ημέρα αλλά δεν υπήρχαν στοιχεία εναντίον τους και "προέκυψαν" προεκλογικά;
— Kostas.Vaxevanis (@KostasVaxevanis) April 28, 2023
