The second trial in the case of Kyriaki Griva – murdered directly outside a police station in Athens while seeking protection – has once again thrown a spotlight on police inaction and the systemic neglect of gender-based violence in Greece. Griva had requested an escort home but was dismissed with the phrase, “patrol cars aren’t taxis.” Her killing by former partner Thanasis Kourelis is now further marred by newly revealed documents showing that police failed to act on her earlier rape allegation, despite legal obligations to do so.

Report by: Iliana Zervou

Griva’s murder shocked the country in April 2024. She had sought help from police multiple times before her death, only to be met with indifference. Her pleas were dismissed with the now-infamous line from a police officer:

“The patrol car is not a taxi.”

At the centre of the current proceedings is new evidence showing that, three years before her death, she had accused Kourelis of raping her while she was pregnant. In her written account, presented in court by the family’s lawyer, she explicitly and repeatedly stated the absence of consent. There is no dispute that her testimony established the crime of rape.

However, the complaint ultimately filed by police related only to physical injury. During her stay at the station, Kyriaki decided not to proceed with a formal rape charge. Nonetheless, Greek law prosecutes rape ex officio, requiring police to initiate proceedings regardless of the victim’s decision. They failed to do so. Civil lawyers argue that this inaction constituted a critical dereliction of duty, one that may have cost Kyriaki her life.

The trial resumed yesterday, Wednesday June 2, at the Evelpidon court complex, where Griva’s father gave emotional testimony about the coercive and exploitative relationship his daughter endured. He described Kourelis as controlling, parasitic and emotionally manipulative – another clear example of how femicide is only the tip of the iceberg of gender-based violence.

Despite the gendered context, the trial remains officially framed as a homicide. This has prompted criticism from the victim’s lawyers and observers, who argue that the legal system continues to erase the gendered dynamics underpinning such crimes.

Much of the day’s session focused on whether Kourelis should be deemed criminally responsible. His defence lawyer cited a history of mental illness, including psychotic depression and suicidal behaviour, and claimed that committing the murder outside a police station indicated a lack of awareness of his actions. He requested that Kourelis serve his sentence in a special psychiatric institution.

The victim’s legal team countered that Kourelis’s actions were fully conscious and deliberate. They pointed to expert assessments conducted near the time of the murder, which found that he was aware of the consequences of his actions. “Dangerousness is not the same as unaccountability,” one lawyer stated, in response to the defence’s argument.

The session also revealed troubling attitudes within the courtroom itself. At one point, the presiding judge asked the victim’s father why his daughter “loved him so much” if Kourelis was indeed so abusive. Unable to explain the psychological grip of abusive relationships or the broader structures of patriarchal coercion, he replied simply, “You should ask all the women who are abused and do not leave, not me.”

A member of the victim’s legal team immediately objected to the line of questioning as inappropriate and abusive. Turning to the witness, he asked, “Do you feel that you have to answer why Kyriaki didn’t leave?” Her father responded curtly, “No.”

Proceedings continue today, 3 July.

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