The murder of the 59-year-old livestock farmer Dimitris Graikos, whose body was found in May 2019 – two and a half years after his mysterious disappearance – is being revived in the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki, buried near a livestock unit in the East of Thessaloniki. As the perpetrator of the murder, a 50-year-old butcher, owner of the livestock unit, was sentenced by the court of first instance to life imprisonment.

“I do not accept the charge. This man died at the livestock facility after an altercation. I couldn’t stop the fight, he started it, but I could alert the police and EKAV. I apologize to his family and mine“, said the 50-year-old, at the beginning of the evidentiary proceedings before the Court of Appeal, when he was called to take a position on the charge.

The trial began with the examination of witnesses and the first to take the stand was a police officer from the Life Crimes Department of the Thessaloniki Police Department. The process is expected to take days.

The history of the case

The case remained a “puzzle” for two and a half years for the prosecuting authorities.

The unfortunate breeder had disappeared at the beginning of November 2016, when was last seen in the slaughterhouse of Chalastra, from where he allegedly left in his farm car.

He has since been lostwhile months of fruitless investigations followed.

The case was to be filed under the “unknown perpetrators” file, but the Appellate prosecutor did not approve the filing, requesting a new investigation. The mystery was finally solved, when with the assistance of scientists from the Laboratory of Applied Geophysics of AUTH who – following the instructions of the Thessaloniki Security Police – “swept” the area with special machines around the defendant’s livestock unit.

Initially, the victim’s farm car was found buried and then, in another place, his body, which bore injuries from repeated blows.