The murder of a prominent investigative reporter on the doorstep of his home in Athens sent shockwaves through Greece on Monday night as it emerged that a terrorist group was behind the assassination.
Socratis Giolas died almost instantly as masked gunmen shot him 16 times in front of his wife, who is expecting their second child.
She said her husband had been lured to the front door by an anonymous telephone call.
After spraying him with bullets the assailants sped off in a stolen car that was later found burned.
The 37-year-old radio chief is the first journalist to be killed in the country since newspaper publisher Nikos Monferatos was gunned down by the infamous 17 November terror group in 1985.
Giolas, who was also a frequent blogger, posting reports on popular online newsblog Troktiko, sought to illuminate Greece’s seamier underside.
The shooting came days before he was due to release an investigative series on corruption, colleagues said.
“His cowardly murder is the work of people who wanted to silence a very good investigative reporter,” said Panos Sobolos, head of the Athens journalists’ union.
Forensic tests on bullet casings found at the scene matched them to two 9mm pistols used in previous assaults on policemen and a television channel by a domestic terror group called the Sect of Revolutionaries.
The group, one of three operating guerilla networks whose members have never been caught, surfaced in December 2008 when Greece descended into violence following the police shooting of a teenage boy.
Since then, the country’s political climate has become increasingly febrile, as far-left groups protesting against global capitalism and local corruption have staged attacks against law enforcement, public buildings and banks.
Last year, after targeting the Athens premises of the Alter TV station, the Sect of Revolutionaries vowed to step up attacks on well-known journalists and media outlets, accusing both of helping corrupt business interests mislead public opinion.
The assassination comes less than a month after unknown terrorists attempted to kill Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysohoidis, the minister in charge of police, by sending a parcel bomb to his office in the center of Athens.
Wrapped up as a gift, the explosive device detonated in the hands of the politician’s security chief, killing him.
“He had been getting them from different people for the last 15 years,” Giolas’ lawyer Giorgos Marangakis said.
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