By Evridiki Fatolia,
Sorin Matei, a Romanian wanted man, broke into a flat in Kato Patisia on September 23, 1998, and threatened to use a grenade to hold four people hostage. Sultana Ginaki, her daughter Amalia, her son Vangelis, and Amalia’s fiancé, Apostolos, made up the four tenants. After tying Amalia’s wrists with heroin, Matei called the Skai television station, where Greece, as a whole, witnessed the dramatic visuals and talks from the flat for four hours.
Matei requested amphetamines and roughly 1,500 euros to aid in his heroin recovery. They replied by sending him a box of sleeping medication, but the criminal recognized this and stopped talking to them. Matei was calmed down by the journalist, and at 8 p.m., he agreed to release the family’s son. Athanasios Vassilopoulos, the Chief of Police, thought the grenade was a hoax at around ten o’clock at night and gave the order to stop the thug from calling Skai. Matei had just freed Sultana Ginaki and the two bound hostages, as the policemen entered the building. During the raid, the police chief was also there. When the officers entered the flat, Apostolos Makrinos was dragged violently, but he was able to free himself by cutting the cord. The explosion that killed Amalia was heard a few minutes later. After 17 days of fighting for her life, she passed away from her wounds. Vassilios Tsiatouras, head of the police department; George Markopoulos, a security guard with minor injuries; Major General Ioannis Georgakopoulos, deputy chief of police; and George Paliouras, driver of Athanasios Vassilopoulos, whose leg was amputated.
In 2005, the police chief was released of all charges after being suspended first for involuntary manslaughter. Doctors held 27-year-old Soren Matei under anesthesia during his two days in the General State Hospital. The director of the surgical clinic ordered his transfer to Korydallos Prison Hospital, where he was discovered dead in his bed on the evening of September 26. Sorin Matei broke out of many jails in Corfu and Larissa in 1996, but he was taken into custody once more in 1997. In 1998, he was moved to the Korydallos jail, and then to the Agios Stefanos prison in Patras. After his accomplice Panagiotis Halepas was arrested in September, the authorities were able to track him down. He was caught off guard during a raid on Matei’s home and managed to flee with two grenades and a revolver. After several hours of meandering, he drove to the Athens-Lamia highway and grabbed a policeman hostage before making his getaway.
He got into a taxi in Piraeus, leaving the car and the policeman behind. In Larissa, he was once more confronted by police, but he managed to flee following a gunfight. The police found him in Athens after multiple investigations, but they decided to hold off until the perfect time. Penelope Athanasopoulou, who resided on the ground floor of an apartment building, was visited by Matei on September 23. He was attacked by special police officers who struck him with a rifle handle and used a flash bang grenade. Matei escaped through the skylight and into the first-floor apartment despite the altercation.
References
- Υπόθεση Σορίν Ματέι: Το χρονικό του μακελειού της οδού Νιόβης. Lifo Podcasts. Available here
- Σορίν Ματέι. Η ομηρία σε απευθείας τηλεοπτική μετάδοση που κατέληξε στον θάνατο της Αμαλίας Γκινάκη. Τα λάθη της αστυνομίας που εκτίμησε ότι η χειροβομβίδα του ήταν ψεύτικη… H μηχανή του χρόνου. Available here
