Rio de Janeiro – The wife of Greece’s ambassador to Brazil and her presumed lover were arrested Friday for murdering the diplomat in what authorities called a planned “crime of passion,” Rio de Janeiro’s Policia Civil said.
Francoise de Sousa Oliveira and military police officer Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho were being held in custody over the murder of Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, whose body was found on Thursday, police told media at a press conference.
Police spokesperson Evaristo Pontes said investigators believe Oliveira and Gomes “planned the whole criminal plot.”
Police also arrested a cousin of Gomes, who told police Gomes offered him 80,000 reals (24,500 dollars) to help with the murder – evidence police said pointed to a premeditated crime.
Amiridis’ body was found “completely carbonized” in a burnt-out car under a bridge in the Nova Iguacu district of Rio, Ponte said. The investigation has not yet determined the cause of death, but police believe he was shot dead.
A file photo of an armoured Brazilian police truck moving through downtown Rio de Janeiro (Credit Image: © Luiz Souza/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press)
According to reports, Amiridis had been spending the Christmas holidays with the Brazilian Oliveira and her family in family home in Nova Iguacu.
Oliveira had reported him missing, saying he had last been seen Monday leaving the house in the rental car in which his body was later found.
But investigators Friday found blood on a sofa in the house, and police said that Gomes had confessed to the crime, saying he shot Amiridis after an argument and that it was he who carried the ambassador’s body away in the rental car.
Brazilian President Michel Temer sent letters of condolence to Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, promising a “rigorous investigation to clarify the circumstances of what happened and try those responsible.”
The disappearance of the ambassador initially made international headlines in the context of a crime wave in Rio. The Brazilian megacity has seen a rise in violence since the end of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Formerly consul in Rio de Janeiro from 2001 to 2004, Amiridis took up his ambassadorial post in the capital Brasilia at the beginning of 2016.
In a press release, Greece’s Foreign Ministry called him “a friend of Brazil, who through his diplomatic career served Greece conscientiously and responsibly.”
