This is why they killed Manolis

“He was shouting 'thief, thief', what could I have done?”. This is what one of the two accused Afghans told a foreign shop owner about the brutal murder of Manolis Kantaris, the 44yo family man, when the latter scolded him for taking a man’s life for a camcorder.

Previously unknown pieces of evidence like this one are included in the case file of the murder in the centre of Athens, for which the two accused received a deadline until Wednesday morning in order to give their testimony.

According to the file, the three perpetrators – the third one is still at large – followed the 44yo man when he exited his house and besides stealing his camera, they took money from his wallet when he was lying on the ground covered in blood.

The evidence collecteds include footage from CCTV cameras at 7 different spots in the area.

On May 14th, four days after the murder and while they were receiving depositions from local residents, police questioned a foreign shop owner who told them that after the tragic incident, one of the perpetrators brought the camcorder to his store, saying that someone would pick it up. When the owner scolded him for taking the man’s life, the Afghan told him that they had stabbed him because he was shouting “thief, thief”, and added, “what could I have done?”.

On May 16th, police received an phone call by an unidentified man who gave them the mobile number of one of the perpetrators.

For the brutal murder of the 44yo, the Prosecutor has brought charges of voluntary manslaughter, simple complicity in manslaughter and robbery which resulted in death by complicity, as well as illegal possession and use of firearms.