A police investigation into the death of a 33-year-old man, shown on video footage breaking out of a locked-down jewelry shop's glass-front and then receiving repeated kicks by the owner and another man, was upgraded on Wednesday, a day after two coroners said the cause of death was an ischemic attack.
Zacharias (Zak) Kostopoulos died last month while being transported by ambulance to a local hospital. He sustained injuries from broken glass and kicks to his head and neck, while his family and activists have also charged rough handling by up to nine police officers who arrived at the scene to arrest him.
The coroner's report also said toxicological tests showed that the victim was not under the influence of illegal or legal drugs, and had a very small amount of alcohol in his system at the time of death.
The ruling cited an absence of coronary heart disease, in pointing to the injuries as causing ischemic changes through a stress mechanism, and ultimately, a myocardial infarction.
Kostopoulos was well-known in Athens' LGBT scene as an activist, performer and blogger.
