Investigative reporter shot dead in Athens

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is outraged by the murder in Athens of Sokratis Giolias, 37, director of the private radio station Thema 98.9 and contributor to the online news blog Troktiko.
At least two men reportedly dressed in police or security uniforms shot Giolias, top, after luring him out of his apartment in the Ilioupolis suburb of Athens at around 5 a.m., claiming his car was being stolen.
Thema 98.9 is a news and entertainment broadcaster, but Troktiko often covers social and political scandals.
The slain reporter’s colleagues told the BBC that Giolias was about to publish results of an investigation into corruption in the country, but did not go into details. “Somebody wanted to silence a very good investigative reporter who had stepped on a lot of toes with his stories,” Panos Sobolos, president of the Athens journalists union, told the BBC.
“We send our condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Sokratis Giolias,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asiap programme co-ordinator Nina Ognianova. “Greek police must conduct a thorough probe into our colleague’s murder, and we urge them to consider his journalism as a possible motive.”