Rally marks third anniversary of fatal beating of LGBTQ+ activist
A rally to mark the third anniversary of the fatal beating of LGBTQ+ community Zak Kostopoulos concluded peacefully on Tuesday evening in downtown Athens.
At Gladstonos Street, near Omonia Square, people gathered to lay flowers, messages and candles at the spot where Kostopoulos was killed.
Behind banners proclaiming “Don’t look away” and “Jackie lives! Smash the Nazis!,” the crowd then marched to Syntagma Square, where Kostopoulos’ first name was spelled out his name with lit candles outside Parliament.
In a joint statement, organizers said that they were marching “to shout out his unjust treatment and to defend his/her name, our own lives, our safety, our bodies – to claim our right to exist without fear and shame, our right to love.”
On 21 September 2018, Kostopoulos was killed after he entered a jewelry store in downtown Athens and was attacked by the business’s owner and another man who allegedly mistook him for a robber. Four police officers who arrived at the scene were shown in a video hitting him while he was on the ground.
Six people – two store owners and four police officers – are facing charges of causing fatal bodily harm.
Last November, the trial was postponed as the court decided that the room where the trial is being held did not fulfil the safety measures required in the pandemic.
The trial is scheduled to resume on October 20.
[ANA/Ekathimerini]
