An extensive report by Alexandros Kontis on the suicide of Kosmas Tzortzopoulos was published in the Real News newspaper on 29 December 2024.
By ALEXANDROS KONTI in Real News
A new cycle of legal disputes seems to be starting in Kythera, after the funeral of the president of the Karavas community, Kosmas Tzortzopoulos. The 30-year-old community leader passed away on Wednesday 18 December, when he fell from a great height in the area of Platia Ammos, in an incident that has shocked Kythera society. His funeral was held last Sunday with the participation of hundreds of residents of the island, in a climate of intense emotion and anger, due to the series of events that preceded the suicide of the 30-year-old. A few hours before he committed suicide, the president of the community had an argument with a top official of the municipality of Kythera. Thus, the climate on the island remains particularly tense, with the result that in the past few days police officers from the Piraeus Security Sub-Directorate arrived in Kythera to keep order. Furthermore, two separate files are being formed, for the suicide and for the incidents that preceded the tragic event.
As reported by sources of the Realnews, from the beginning of the new year the relatives and friends of the deceased president of the community of Karava are going to file a series of lawsuits, both against specific individuals and against anyone responsible. People from the close family and friends of Kosmas Tzortzopoulos are to take action against members of the municipality of Kythera, but possibly also against members of the administration of the island's hospital. At the same time, the lawsuits that will be filed are expected to include the offences of slander, defamation of the dead, false reporting, but also breach of duty by a state official.
Attacks and threats
The 30-year-old is described as a very active member of the local government, who had undertaken the organization of numerous initiatives and voluntary actions for Karavas and, by extension, for the island. However, according to people who have testified in connection with the investigation of the incidents, his increased popularity had provoked the ire of other local actors, who often attacked him verbally and threatened him with expulsion.
It is noted that after the incident between the 30-year-old and the municipal official, the latter went to the island's hospital. As testified by members of the hospital staff, although the injury he had sustained in the incident with the community leader was negligible, the municipal executive threatened everyone, demanding that he remain in the hospital for treatment, claiming that he would lose his eye. In addition, his wife also claimed that she was brutally beaten by the 30-year-old, claiming that she suffered a fractured leg as a result.
Two other top officials of the municipality of Kythera had gone to the hospital. Although the «wounded» did not need hospitalization, they demanded and succeeded in having them evacuated to the hospital of Sparta by water. «Around 19:30 he arrived at the hospital with his wife in their own vehicle and they headed to the emergency room. I heard him chatting on the phone and demanding that the police commander come. He was telling them to bust him so he wouldn't escape the autopsy. In the same conversation he threatened to go all the way to the brigadier general. While I was there, the doctor announced that there was no reason for them to remain in the hospital. Instead, they insisted that they should stay and spend the night in the hospital,» a witness told the authorities.
At the same time, in the same hours, a local online media outlet posted a news story about the «savage beating» of the municipal official by the mayor. After the news of the suicide, however, the post was deleted.
They contradict him
Last Friday, while the news of the death of the community president had caused a nationwide sensation, the municipal official spoke to a television channel expressing his grief for the loss of the 30-year-old, but at the same time insisted on his allegations of a savage beating of himself and his wife. He even stressed that he felt he could even have killed them. However, eyewitnesses contradicted him.
According to statements taken from people who were present at the incident, the city official was struck by a blow, which caused a bruise and nothing more. Thus, now the same man is about to be the focus of the lawsuits that the relatives of the deceased 30-year-old have decided to file. What will be investigated is whether he insulted the honour and reputation of the community chairman by lying and also his memory after his death.
Furthermore, the authorities will examine the actions of the hospital administration, which agreed to the transfer to Sparta hospital, as well as the actions of the local authorities, which accepted the complaints of the municipality's executive, about the alleged brutal beating. «Cosmas should not have done what he did and no one can be legally blamed for his suicide. But the pressures and all the slander he was subjected to must be exposed,» he says in «R» person in the 30-year-old's inner circle.
See the Realnews article
