REPORTS
Investigation into an incendiary device thrown by a police officer or a person under police supervision
In March 2021, Disinfaux Collective, a research team that uses OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) tools and methodology, combining investigative journalism with audiovisual and open source data analysis, conducted a study (published by Reporters United with video and accompanying technical report), examining a Molotov cocktail thrown during a demonstration in Nea Smyrni.
By studying and comparing audiovisual material from police drone footage and eyewitness videos, Disinfaux Collective came to the following conclusions:
The incident occurred on March 9 in Nea Smyrni, where a public protest had been organized in response to the beating of a citizen by a police officer in the area two days earlier. During the demonstration, local resident and singer-songwriter Gautier Velissaris, was filming with his mobile phone and caught the incident on video.
Frame by frame analysis of the video shows that the person appearing to throw the Molotov cocktail is standing next to a DRASI unit of police officers and wearing similar clothing, including the characteristic white helmet. The research team concludes that “the person is either a police officer and is part of the squad, or is there under its supervision”.
These observations lead the authors of the report to ask, “if the person is not an on-duty police officer or if they are a civilian, why did the other police officers of the DRASI unit allow him or her to throw the incendiary device, or why they did not remove him or her before the incident, and why was he or she not removed from the premises after it was thrown, in accordance with the legal principle of in flagrante delicto (caught in the act)?”
Analysis also shows that the published footage also does not contain the moment the incident occurred, but only the minutes before and after. The Hellenic Police have declined to answer questions posed by the investigators.
In a state governed by the rule of law, state and police authorities must fully comply with the law which sets out the conditions under which they operate.
However, in this case audiovisual evidence appears to show a person who “either is a police officer […] or is there under their supervision” unlawfully throwing an incendiary device at citizens who are exercising their right to assemble, i.e. their right to demonstrate.
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