Kyriakos Amiridis Explained

Κυριάκος Αμοιρίδης
Kyriakos Amiridis
Office:Ambassador of Greece to Brazil
President:Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Term Start:25 May 2016
Term End:30 December 2016*
Successor:Vassiliki Lazari (Chargé d' affaires)
Office1:Ambassador of Greece to Libya
President1:Karolos Papoulias
Term Start1:2012
Term End1:2016
Birth Date:30 September 1957
Birth Place:Veria, Greece
Death Place:Nova Iguaçu, Brazil
Children:1 daughter
Footnotes:
  • Term ended on 30 December when his death was confirmed.

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Kyriakos Amiridis (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Κυριάκος Αμοιρίδης, 30 September 1957 – 26 December 2016) was a Greek career diplomat who served as the Ambassador of Greece to Libya and Brazil. He was reported missing on 28 December 2016 while serving as ambassador to Brazil and his body was found near Rio de Janeiro the next day.

Career

Amiridis began working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens in 1985 and was transferred to the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace in Thessaloniki. His first foreign position was at the Greek Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia from 1988.

In 1993, Amiridis started working in Brussels at the Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Union. He returned to Greece in 1997 to work in the European Foreign Affairs Department at the Foreign Ministry in Athens.

In 2000, Amiridis moved to Brazil to serve as the Consul General in Rio de Janeiro. Three years later, he became Consul General in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

After returning to Athens in 2008, Amiridis was in 2012 appointed to serve as the Ambassador of Greece to Libya. In 2016 he was chosen to serve as Ambassador to Brazil and he presented his credentials to Brazilian Acting President Michel Temer on 25 May 2016.[1]

Personal life

In 2004 Amiridis married Françoise de Sousa Oliveira, a Brazilian national, and together they had one daughter.[2]

Death

Amiridis was reported missing while on vacation in Rio de Janeiro in late December 2016. He was last heard from on the evening of 26 December when he sent a message from his phone. His wife Françoise reported him missing two days later and claimed that she had been unable to contact him.[3]

On 29 December, Brazilian police said a homicide team had launched an investigation into the ambassador's disappearance. Hours later, a body was found in a burnt-out car underneath an overpass of the Arco Metropolitano do Rio de Janeiro highway near Nova Iguaçu. The vehicle had been rented by Amiridis and the remains were positively identified as those of the ambassador.[4]

On 30 December, Amiridis's wife Françoise and two other people were detained in connection with the ambassador's apparent murder. One of the apprehended figures, military police officer Sérgio Gomes Moreira,[5] is suspected of having been having an affair with Françoise; he confessed to the murder. The roles of the wife and the second man are still unclear.[6] Police believe Amiridis was murdered in an apartment owned by the ambassador in Nova Iguaçu, where the couple and their daughter were staying for the Christmas holiday.[7] Blood stains were found on a sofa in the apartment.[8]

On 29 August 2021, Amiridis's wife was found guilty of planning to murder her husband and given a 31-year prison sentence, while Sérgio Gomes Moreira was sentenced to 22 years in prison after confessing to having committed the murder. The judge described the assassination as "bestial".[9]

References

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Itamaraty Brazil on Twitter. 4 January 2017.
  2. Web site: Biography on Greek embassy website . Greek embassy website . https://web.archive.org/web/20161230000512/https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/br/brazil-br/about-us/the-ambassador.html. 2016-12-30.
  3. News: Greek Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis missing in Rio de Janeiro . 29 December 2016 . . 29 December 2016.
  4. News: Brazilian police believe body found in Rio is missing Greek ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis . 30 December 2016 . . 30 December 2016.
  5. News: Brazilian police suspect 'crime of passion' in Greek ambassador's death . 30 December 2016 . . 30 December 2016.
  6. News: Military police officer confesses to murder of Greek ambassador . 30 December 2016 . . 30 December 2016.
  7. Web site: Mulher de embaixador da Grécia é presa pelo assassinato do marido. 31 December 2016. 4 January 2017.
  8. News: Brazil police detain wife of murdered Greek ambassador Amiridis . 30 December 2016 . . 30 December 2016.
  9. News: Wife of murdered Greek ambassador jailed over his death in Brazil . BBC News . BBC . 29 August 2021 . 29 August 2021.