Shortly after midnight on 18 September 2013, Pavlos Fyssas, a young Greek anti-fascist rapper, was murdered in his home neighbourhood of Keratsini, Athens. Both the killer and others who participated in the attack were members of the neo-Nazi organization Golden Dawn.
Golden Dawn have committed acts of violence against migrants and political opponents ever since their formation in the 1980s, yet most of their crimes have gone unpunished as a result of the silent support among the ranks of the Greek police, aligned to their nationalist cause. Following the murder of Fyssas, a Greek citizen, the national government was finally forced to make a series of arrests. Sixty-nine members of Golden Dawn, including all of their fifteen parliamentarians, were brought to trial. Charges in the trial, relating to events as far back as 2008, allege that even while holding seats in the national parliament, Golden Dawn operated as a criminal organisation. Even as the ongoing trial threatens the existence of Golden Dawn as a political party, the Greek courts remain reluctant to investigate the role of the police in covering up these crimes.
Forensic Architecture was commissioned by the Fyssas family and their legal representatives to reconstruct the events of the night from the audio and video material made available to the court. The resulting video investigation and accompanying report, presented to the Athens courtroom on 10 and 11 September 2018, brings together CCTV footage, recordings of communications between police and emergency services, and witness testimony. We established a precise timeline and reconstruction of the events that led to the murder.
The investigation established that members of Golden Dawn, including senior officials, acted in a co-ordinated manner in relation to the murder, and that members of Greece’s elite special forces police, known as DIAS, were present at the scene before, during and after the murder, and failed to intervene.
Project Credits:
- Project lead: Christina Varvia
- Project coordinator: Stefanos Levidis
- Video investigation: Simone Rowat
- Research assistance: Stefan Laxness, Nicholas Masterton, Sofia Georgovassili, Sarah Nankivell, Fivos Avgerinos, Dorette Panagiotopoulou
- Sound analysis advisor: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Shakeeb Abu Hamdan
- Research support: Eyal Weizman
- Project support: Sarah Nankivell, Robert Trafford
Website:
Biography:
Forensic Architecture (UK) is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. FA undertake advanced spatial and media investigations into cases of human rights violations, with and on behalf of communities affected by political violence, human rights organizations, international prosecutors, environmental justice groups, and media organizations. Through the analysis, location, and reconstruction of violent events, FA aims to develop and disseminate innovative new techniques for evidence gathering and presentation. FA has successfully tested its methodologies in landmark international legal and human rights cases, including at the ECHR, ICC, and the UN, as well as publishing and exhibiting their work in major artistic and cultural institutions worldwide.
