It was 21 September, 2018, when one of the most prominent LGBTQ and HIV-positive activists in Greece, Zacharias Kostopoulos, was lynched and murdered on a street in central Athens, in the seedy neigborhood of Omonia Square.
He was just 33-years-old and was called Zak by family and friends, while his name as a drag queen was Zackie oh. He was also well-known in the entire LGBTQ community.
The lynching was recorded and showed a murky jewellery shop owner and a neighbouring real estate agent who was his friend kicking Zak maniacally in the head as he tried to exit the shop through the ground vitrine, which the owner had broken with rocks and other objects.
He had entered the shop to seek refuge from person or persons unknown chasing him, as he loudly called out “Help!”, but an automatic magnetic lock trapped him in the shop. He unsuccessfully tried to escape as his two attackers stood outside.
The owner said Zak had entered to steal, but that is highly questionable as he had generous financial support from his parents, a 700-euro monthly state stipend standard for HIV-positive individuals, and income as one of the best known drag queens in Athens.
Moreover, CCTV does not show him even laying a hand on any of the pieces.
He has become a gay icon and yearly vigil marches are held on the anniversary of his death at the place of his murder.
In Omonia, everyone (especially police) pretty much knows everyone else, certainly all the regulars and passers-by.
Was Zak’s murder a set-up to get rid of an annoying gay and immigrants’ rights activist well-known to by-and-large right wing police and others in the area? We shall never know the motives. though certain circumstances, or curious coincidences, point in that direction.
When the badly beaten and horribly wounded victim tried to flee the scene, the four policemen that arrived struck him in the back of the legs causing him to fall face down, and handcuffed the motionless, near-death man, as an ambulance was on its way.
They were all acquitted in court. It .was said that they followed police regulations and directives.
When, previously, Zak emerged through the broken glass, bloody and wounded by fragments, the two men kicked Zak’s head to a pulp.
The videotaped scene shocked the entire country as perhaps the most brutal ever visually recorded murder, by lynching as is evident.
Zak was running away from a threat by a still unknown individual (s) chasing him.
What we do know is that a mystery man in a yellow shirt walked briskly behind Zak as he ran from a nearby bread and sweets shop,Venetis, to the scene of the crime on Gladstonos Street.
This man was on the scene throughout the entire incident and he is the one who called police to the scene and stood among them when they arrived, himself later holding a police club.
There is evidence that police covered for the man, as despite the fact that they had previously arrested him more than once on other charges, they claimed they could not find him, so the central witness never appeared in court.
One thing is certain. He must have been acquainted with the policemen of the nearby precinct, who never asked him to distance himself from the scene.
Chased, Zak sought refuge in the jewellery shop, whose owner inexplicably said he left the door open and the store unguarded, supposedly to go to a nearby kiosk and buy a newspaper.
The family saw the court case as a total travesty of justice, as key witnesses could not testify and the four policemen who greatly abused a severely wounded man got off scot free.
The upbringing and shaping of a brave and fearless gay, immigrant, prisoner and human rights activist and journalist
Though most Greeks are well aware of the account of his murder that still leaves a host of unanswered questions, and some have an idea of his intense social media activity, no one yet really has gotten an idea of who Zak was as an individual.
His upbringing, his childhood kindnesses, his love of theatre and performance (clearly a factor in his success as a drag queen), his deep care for the marginalized and disenfranchised and animals, his total acceptance by his parents but rejection by other family members.
In an exclusive interview with To Vima International Edition, his mother, Eleni Kostopoulou, paints the portrait of a person convinced that through struggle and persistence, one can help change the bigotry and intolerance of our society, to help change people’s outlook by showing them how to transcend stereotypes and look “the other” in the eye, as a co-equal.
Give us an idea of what Zak was like as a child growing up.
He was a quiet, smart boy. He never gave me trouble with anything. He was curious about the things around him. He demonstrated a kind of sensitivity towards other people and animals. He showed a type of kindness even though he was little, but also throughout the years growing up he always cared about the people around him.
Zak hugging his beloved dog Snoopy
How did he show that?
He would pick up stray animals and bring them home. When he went to school, he would try to be friends with the whole classroom. He befriended kids that other kids didn’t want to be friends with, like immigrant kids or kids with something that the other kids made fun of. So he was a person who included everyone in his company.
So he had a great degree of empathy.
Yes, exactly, and that type of social intelligence, how to be friendly with people. When he became an adult, he would show it even more, by listening to people’s stories, especially when there was trouble or problems and they needed someone to talk to. He was sensitive and would listen to them, crying many times. He would really sympathize with the pain of other people and he gave them advice.
Picture taken a few months before his death
The mother who named her child Zacharias in Zak’s honor
A week ago I received a message from a woman who told me that she named her son Zacharias because she had doubts about bringing a child into the world. She was in a mixed marriage with her husband from a different race, and she said she didn’t know how the child would be treated by other people. She told me that she spoke to Zak and talked. He told her that she had nothing to worry about and he convinced her that having a kid is something very nice and something that will bring joy and happiness into her life. So it was very moving when I read her message.
Did you call him Zacharias as a kid?
Yes. Then he left home to go to college and when he started writing in the social media he used Zak because it was shorter and simpler.
When he was growing up what was your and your husband’s occupation?
My husband was a machinist, so he used to work in companies making different types of parts for trains or cars. Later in life, because this profession got lost because machines made the parts, he opened a restaurant here in Greece. In America, I worked in a factory, then I worked in a day-care center, but I have been an English teacher for 20 years now, in private schools in the afternoon, so that’s my main profession.
Was Zak born in America and then you came back?
When my husband and I got married we went to America to live, because my husband used to live there. We lived in New Jersey for about 10 years, so I had all of my three kids there. Then we decided to come back to Greece because we didn’t want my kids to grow up in America and forget about their ancestry and their relatives. At that time, life in Greece was simpler and closer to nature, and the crime rate was lower and all that, so we came back.
Zak was seven-years-old and he had just finished first grade. When we came to Greece, the teachers advised us that it was better for him to repeat first grade because he didn’t know how to read Greek, so that’s what he did.
Was he a good student over the years?
Yes, he didn’t study a lot but he would pick up things very fast because he was very intelligent, and he didn’t show an interest in an academic career. He was more interested in singing and dancing and acting – in performing. He did shows at home and he went on television with a group of friends with a dancing team. It was a morning show that had a small dancing competition When he finished high school he wanted to study drama, so he went to the drama school of Mary Voyatzi- Tragka in Athens. He didn’t go to university although he took the university entrance exams and he got a spot in a technical school that taught how to use foreign languages in administration and in trade.
Zak on the streets of Athens
I understand he didn’t like moving from America to Greece.
Yes. Even though he never expressed it and I didn’t pick up on it. Until he said it and I read it, he never expressed a complaint that he was not comfortable being here. He adapted easily. We lived in Athens for a year but then we moved to the countryside, to Fokida prefecture. Maybe it was a culture shock. He continued going to school and making friends. I didn’t see anything to make me worry or regret our decision to return to Greece.
I read an article of his on shortstories.gr in which he wrote that a certain uncle said he could continue his studies there. He wrote that the uncle was very old-fashioned and was very upset when he discovered, by prying into his diary, that Zak was gay.
Zak said that he used to keep a diary with great detail, and that he wrote about having a boyfriend and about the relationship. The uncle found and read the diary and said, “Our kids? Our family? No, these things can’t happen! Don’t see him again. They lured you into this and that’s not what you are.” Then the uncle did not allow him to go out with friends, he was accompanied everywhere, and when he was at home they kept him locked up. They took away his cell phone and locked the landline dial, allowing him only to call his parents once or twice a week. Then he escaped from the house jumping out of the house window and nearly breaking his arm. He took a plane to Greece, and came out as a gay man, liberating himself. Were you aware of all this?
Not until I read it, the same way you did just now. I felt very angry at his uncles. I have never spoken to them since then, because they didn’t respect his personality and who he was, and they didn’t tell us about it. In their minds, they tried to change things. Even though we know that that’s not possible. When Zak realised that they didn’t treat him well and couldn’t accept who he was, he came back to us in Greece. I went to the airport and picked him up. For my part, I just wanted him to be happy. I’ve never forgiven them for what they did to him.
Zak with his brother Nick and his mom
So was the first time Zak told you that he was gay when he got back to Greece from his uncle’s home? What did he say? I presume he told you first?
Yes, it was the first time, Actually he spoke first to his father. We parents can sense these things. So, even though he never expressed it openly, I knew that he was gay when he was growing up. I could see the way he moved, the way he communicated with girls much better than with boys. Probably all of his friends were girls. Rarely would I see a boy in his company,so you know those things. You don’t need anyone to point them out to you. He knew that I would love him no matter what, so that’s why he trusted his father to speak to, because we both are very open-minded, and our top priority is for our kids to be happy. So he spoke to his dad who told him that everything is okay.
Of course, we started worrying about his life and the way other people would treat him. We know that people with different sexual preferences are not treated equally. Many times they are made fun of and they are not given the same opportunities as other people. What worried me most was how other people will treat him, and how his life would not be completely happy because there would always be some people who would not accept him and not appreciate his personality, his character, and all the things that he represents.
Now that I’ve met a lot of people, including from minorities, I know that they have to go through life fighting for what they believe in and proving to other people that they are good people, because other people judge them from their preferences or appearance and not by their personality and character.
At some point it seems Zak decided to make his sexual orientation, his gay activism, and his performances as a drag queen at clubs the central part of his life, making activism his life’s mission. Is that right?
Yes, totally. The way he cared about people made him become a fighter, a supporter, and an advocate for many minorities, not only LGBTQ people, but also of prisoners, immigrants, and any group that were suppressed and did not have the rights that all of us should have in a democracy. He wanted to fight for them.
He did this primarily through the social media?
Yes, but he was also a newspaper columnist at [left-wing] Documento
and wrote for the leading LGBTQ-free press magazine Antivirus. He also worked at Positive Voice, which helps HIV-positive individuals.
Gazing into the future that was not to be
A finale in Zak’s own words
One thought it best to end this interview with Zak’s own words in a very powerful, personal account he wrote regarding his “Liberation Day”, as he called it, from the clutches of his abusive Greek-American uncle and from the burden of social oppression of gays in general for shortstories.gr.
He recalls the night before escaping from the house. The uncle had brought home a lady friend who, when he had gone to bed, went in to talk to Zak, sensing his deep sadness and that something was very wrong.
He felt an inexplicable need to let go and share his pent up feelings of despair and tell her the whole story of his predicament and the abusive treatment to which he was being subjected.
“Even if my child were a murderer, I would say ‘Let’s go hide the body so you don’t get caught and go to jail. This kind of behavior, indeed for something that is in your nature, is inconceivable.’, the woman said.”
“The next day I woke up. Literally and metaphorically. I thought to myself, ‘No darling, I won’t let these people drive you crazy.’ I devised a plan. I contacted my boyfriend with whom I had lost touch for a long time, and appointed the day and hour that he should come to the house and pick me up. I had booked a flight to Athens with the help of a girl I knew.
“That day came, and I threw my suitcase from the window [of a one-family house] and then jumped out myself. I nearly broke my hand but I managed.
“After several hours I was on the plane, without anyone knowing anything. When the plane took off I thought that the word “impossible” would forever be deleted from my vocabulary. From thereon in there would be nothing hidden. There would be no closet. I set fire and burned down closet. It would no longer exist.
“I am what I am, and only for whoever accepts it.”
