Relatives of Adamantia Karkali thought that the cold-blooded murder of the young teacher by her husband Athanasios Arvanitis was the worst that could have happened to them on August 4,2008. Seven years onwards however they are being forced to relive the tragedy that befell their daughter, a teacher – aged 24 –  from the island of Santorini who was beheaded before having her head poked on a stick that was taken on a procession around the island’s tourist spots. It is the stuff nightmares are made of but apparently makes for good TV viewing. The girl’s parents, brother and aunt are outraged by the decision to make her life an episode of the Greek crime series, “10th Commandment” (Dekati Endoli), that is based on real-life murder stories. In an effort to ban the show, the family turned to the Court of First Instance in Thessaloniki, however the verdict has yet to be announced.

The family plea states: “The event is too recent for us to see reproduced in any waya and will be a catalyst to the descent of our psychological and emotional state. We will be literally ‘finished’. That is, the view of the shredded corpse of Adamantia, with her head held by the offender and then thrown on the back seat of the police vehicle that the heinous murderer had stolen from the police in his escape attempt (will spark memories). (Private) Alpha TV shows two scenes of the head being held by the perpetrator naer the police patrol station already causing mora damage with the view being made public to viewers.”

The radio and television watchdog is being called upon to impose fines. “Our security measures against (director Panos Kokkinopoulos) that inspired the series that shows these scenes,” says the family lawyer Yiannis Nisyrios. He states that the channel took down the relevant images from its site and there is hope that the family’s emotional state will be protected.