One month after the first reports, the case of the alleged gang rape of a 24-year-old girl by the children of famous businessmen continues to rivet the Greek people. According to the lawyers of the alleged victim, some "mistakes" on the part of the authorities may negatively affect the outcome of the investigation. As recent developments emerge, tied to the toxicological examination of the victim, public opinion has been strongly divided, while many fear a possible attempt of a cover-up of the incident might be happening.
Rape on New Year's Eve
The case concerns 24-year-old Georgia Bika, who on New Year's Day went to the police in order to report herself as the victim of a gang rape, which took place on the night of New Year’s Eve at a private suite party in a luxury hotel in Thessaloniki, Greece. According to information that had been leaked early on social media, three of the men who attended the New Year's party, allegedly took advantage of the girl's half-unconscious state, while it is also probable that her drinks had been drugged. The alleged rapists, whose names were indicated in Georgia’s official testimony, are the children of a wealthy Greek business family in charge of bottling and supply of a well-known brand of non-alcoholic beverages. Impressive, however, was the unprecedented delay by the country's major news outlets in covering the incident and the much faster response to it from some social media accounts.
The Interview to Clear Her Name
After almost three weeks and amid mass calls for justice from countless voices throughout the country, Georgia Bika decided to appear for the first time publicly as a guest of the well-known national journalist Makis Triantaphyllopoulos, on his website ''zougla.gr''. In this way, as she stated, she wanted to put an end to the rumors circulating about her name and person. She delivered a thorough interview in which she opened up about her difficult life, but mainly she described, in great detail, the events of the traumatic - as she characterized it - night of New Year's Eve. The story of the victim that decided to show her face, assuring the world that she would pursue this case to the end, provoked pan-Hellenic sympathy and support for the young woman.
According to the testimony of the 24-year-old, she directly reported the crime to the local police precinct in the morning, right after waking up and realizing what had happened to her. Upon explaining her case to the police officers and expressing her concern that she might have been drugged, she was asked to give blood and urine samples, that would be examined for containing any suspicious substances and alcohol. As later mentioned in the interview, the police took Georgia’s urine samples later in the night, but ended up not taking her blood sample at all. As to the forensic medical examination, it reportedly only happened 3 days later, during which she could not wash herself at all, as to avoid any possible tampering with the forensic analysis results.
Far From Over
The samples were sent to a laboratory in Bern, Switzerland, as requested from the interrogators in charge of the case, in order to ensure better and more accurate results. The results of Georgia’s toxicological examination came in just a few days ago, roughly a month after the actual crime took place, indicating that no substances were found in the alleged victim’s system. Public opinion erupted once again upon reading the news, while the 24-year-old’s attorney insists that the samples’ extraction was faulty and as quoted ‘’taken too late for them to actually show us anything’’.
One thing is now certain, this case will keep troubling the Greek people for some time, as information keeps changing by each passing day. Although anyone’s anticipation right now would be for the truth to prevail and for justice to be served, there is but one message that everyone should grasp from matters such as this: Rape victims should always be encouraged to speak up, to not be afraid to point towards their aggressors and to trust that the world will stand by them when everything else seems to be working against them.