NEWS

Murder of journalist claimed in statement

Officers of the police’s counterterrorism unit were yesterday examining a seven-page document sent to daily newspaper Ta Nea which appears to be a claim of responsibility for the fatal shooting last week of 37-year-old journalist and blogger Sokratis Giolias. On its website, Ta Nea said it had been sent a CD containing a seven-page proclamation from the group claiming responsibility for the gangland-style shooting of Giolias outside his home in the southeastern Athens suburb of Ilioupoli last Monday. According to Ta Nea, which said it would publish extracts of the document today, the statement criticized several prominent Greek journalists. The text also included threats against police officers, public prosecutors, prison wardens and staff as well as social workers who visit jails, Ta Nea said. A police spokesman said the force could not yet confirm the authenticity of the claim. According to sources, officers in the counterterrorism unit believe that one or two members of Sect of Revolutionaries emerged from the ranks of Revolutionary Struggle, a more established guerrilla group, which police claimed to have broken in April following the arrest of six suspected members. A police source told Kathimerini yesterday that the force lacked evidence to link specific individuals to the Sect of Revolutionaries. Last week, police forensic officers confirmed that the 16 cartridge casings found at the scene of Giolias’s shooting had been fired from two 9-millimeter pistols used in previous attacks claimed by Sect of Revolutionaries: the murder of a witness protection officer in June 2009 and two attacks in February of that year, on a police station and on private television channel Alter.

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