Kiriaki Griva femicide: Four police officers to stand trial for fatal exposure

The Athens Council of Misdemeanour Judges has decided to refer for trial the four police officers who left Kiriaki Griva helpless outside the Agioi Anargyroi Police Station, resulting in her former partner murdering her in cold blood in 2024.

According to the referral order, all four defendants -namely the duty officer at the time, the supervisor, the entrance guard who were serving at the Agioi Anargyroi Police Station, as well as the operator at the Immediate Action centre- will stand trial before the Mixed Jury Court of Athens on the felony charge of fatal exposure through omission.

The multi-page referral order provides a detailed account of the events, as they were also described during the first-instance trial of the perpetrator of the femicide, highlighting the responsibilities of the four defendants due to the special legal obligation arising from their positions. It also points out that their omissions contributed to the death of Kiriaki Griva.

The police officers’ omissions

Specifically, the order states that the duty officer was obliged to contact the Immediate Action centre in order to locate the perpetrator, as well as to arrange for a patrol car -which, according to the order, was available at the station- to escort Kiriaki Griva safely to her home.

Regarding the supervisor at the Agioi Anargyroi Police Station, the order states that while Kiriaki Griva arrived and reported that her former partner was outside her home, requesting police assistance, the defendant, instead of protecting her by taking into account the level of danger faced by the victim and directing her to the duty officer, allowed her to leave the building.

Similarly, the alleged omissions of the entrance guard are described, specifically that he was not alert and failed to realise in time that, at a distance of 30 metres from the guard post, the complainant’s former partner approached on foot carrying a knife and moved towards the complainant, who was outside the police station and just 1.5 metres from the guard post, before violently attacking her with the knife.

Finally, regarding the operator at the Immediate Action centre, whose conduct towards Kiriaki Griva had sparked strong reactions, the order states that the defendant should have classified the incident as an urgent domestic violence case and forwarded it as a “high-priority call”. If the operator had assessed the seriousness of the complaint, as noted in the referral order, investigations to locate the perpetrator would have begun and the woman’s safe transport home would have been secured, preventing her death.

The timeline of the femicide

It is recalled that Kiriaki Griva had gone to the police station accompanied by a friend in order to report her former partner. There, while she requested protection, the duty officer allegedly told her that no patrol car was available.

The 28-year-old woman left the police station, saw her former partner waiting for her and called the emergency number 100 a few metres away from the station. In essence, the murder took place while she was speaking with the operator at the call centre.

An audio recording had also captured the pleas for help from the victim’s friend, who was an eyewitness to the femicide, as well as the way the violent incident was handled by the police officers.