Greek crime reporter shot dead outside home in Athens

Police outside the home of Giorgos Karaivaz, a crime journalist who was shot dead
Police outside the home of Giorgos Karaivaz, a crime journalist who was shot dead Copyright Panayiotis Tzamaros/AP
By Euronews with AP & AFP
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Giorgos Karaivaz was found dead, shot multiple times, beside his car in the Greek capital.

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A Greek crime reporter has been shot dead outside his home in an Athens suburb, according to Greek police.

Giorgos Karaivaz was found dead early in the afternoon on Friday with several gunshot wounds beside his car in the Alimos suburb, police said.

Private Star TV, for which he worked, said Karaivaz had just returned from work.

It said two men on a motorcycle drew up beside him and the passenger fired at least ten shots.

The Greek government, opposition parties and the country's main journalists' union strongly condemned the attack.

“The murder...shocked us all,” government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni said. “The authorities are investigating the case, to ensure the perpetrators are arrested and brought to justice.”

Authorities said Karaivaz had not requested police protection or reported any death threats.

In a career that spanned decades, Karaivaz, 50, worked for several Greek newspapers and broadcast media.

"Someone chose to silence him, and prevent him with bullets from writing his articles," the news blog bloko.gr blog, which he helped to run, wrote following his death.

While private media premises in Greece are often targets of firebombings or vandalism, murders of journalists are rare in Greece.

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