On 1 November, Giórgou Zantióti under unknown circumstances died in police custody after being detained on the street. The information about the case appeared first on the website of the Greek Athens Indymedia and only later made its way to German public. Confirmation about the death was given to the media only upon formal request, one week after the incident happened.
According to the answer from public prosecutor’s office, the information on the death in custody was not relevant to the media and that’s why it was not made public in any way. This is a hard conclusion taking in account that police would report graffiti and stolen goods, but death inside the police station is still considered irrelevant to the public.
This type of handling the death in custody is showing that the lack of transparency in work of police hides dangerous situations and possible responsibilities for harm to the human life. We do not believe that anyone from the police apparatus or prosecutor’s office can think that a death of a human being in police custody can be an irrelevant for the public. This was clearly done to do some damage control after the situation, and it is unacceptable that the society have to find such cases online on media platforms from other countries.
Sources:
https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/toter-in-wuppertal-polizei-gewahrsam-proteste-100.html