Yet another killing…
Giannis Oikonomou was very eloquent in his comments on Skai TV the other day, though after so many years in the game and having served as government spokesman, we didn’t expect anything less.
The citizen protection minister reiterated promises that “not a single shadow” would remain unilluminated in the recent deadly shooting of a 17-year-old Roma boy by police. He wasn’t asked – which is probably why he didn’t mention it – what happened to the same promises made by his predecessor over the police killing of Nikos Sambanis, 18, in October 2021, and 16-year-old Kostas Frangoulis in December 2022. They, too, were Roma.
The appearance on the same current affairs show by PASOK MP Milena Apostolaki did nothing to enlighten viewers. She confused the issue and made the minister very happy by talking about violence in general, bundling together the soccer hooligan killing outside the AEK stadium with the death of an 8-year-old boy during a shooting at a Roma camp in Zefyri that has been attributed to rivalry between families.
The impunity of police officers was not discussed, so in all likelihood we will be hearing Oikonomou making more promises to leave no shadow unilluminated in the future.
But the fact is that we have seen a rise in the number of killings of young Roma men by police. These killings cannot be attributed solely to the fact that “rising criminality and insubordination increases the likelihood of incidents with tragic results,” as Oikonomou argued.
It is mainly because police officers are being allowed to act like cowboys and get away with it. And their cowboy tactics are not aimed only at citizens or young Roma men, but also at the hierarchy of the Hellenic Police. Let us not forget the mini-mutiny in October 2021, when officers continued their pursuit of Sambanis in defiance of the orders they were given. Oikonomou failed to comment on that either – perhaps because he wasn’t asked.
Many hope that police body cameras will solve the problem. By the time they actually arrive and are put into use, we will probably have another five or six deaths, and what do you want to bet that they’ll keep breaking down when the force does get them.
But, really, when law enforcement officers are allowed to go unpunished for disobeying direct orders from their superiors, is a camera going to prevent them from committing the ultimate act of evil?
