New, previously unknown details from the testimony of defendant Dr Ioanna Gaka to the investigating magistrate have come to light. The doctor, now remanded in custody, insists that in the critical moments when singer Giorgos Mazonakis was losing consciousness in her surgery, she acted correctly, in line with what the situation and the rules of medical science demanded.

Giving her own version of events, the defendant described, minute by minute, the efforts she made to continue the treatment, which she insisted on describing as completely safe despite the singer’s consequent death. According to the 56-year-old, everything was initially proceeding smoothly, but ‘suddenly’ Mazonakis began to show signs of deterioration, with his vital signs changing within minutes, and she began attempts to resuscitate him.

‘Suddenly, while I was watching the monitor, I saw that the ECG was thinning out, the oxygen dropped from 98, where it had been stable, to 89, and the blood pressure fell to 10 over 6, when it had been 14 over 9, measured on the leg,’ said Gaka, declaring herself devastated by the singer’s loss. ‘I deny the charge as it is being attributed to me. I am in a state of inner mourning while at the same time having to deal with this whole situation. I declare my utter devastation at the loss of the patient. I would have felt exactly the same whoever my patient was,’ she added, insisting that the plasmapheresis treatment to which she had subjected the singer is safe.

‘After the treatment, patients are in very good condition. They can do everything. They can drive, they can walk. I want to tell you that at the end of the treatment the blood returns normally to the patient’s body. The patient does not lose a single drop of blood,’ the 56-year-old told the magistrate, going on to state flatly that she never took a medical history from the singer.

‘I did not take his medical history, but I saw all the measurements we took. I did not tell him to bring any recent medical tests. This treatment has no side effects or contraindications, because of the nature of the procedure,’ she insisted, continuing: ‘The amount of blood moving through this system is very small, in any case. The company says the treatment is prohibited only for children under 12 and for people with little or no life expectancy. He told me he was sleep-deprived and wanted to sleep during the treatment. You can sleep normally during the treatment. He was not in a state where he could not cooperate for us to continue the treatment. There was no contraindication. I have also carried out the treatment on another patient who was in a similar condition, and it went perfectly well.’

The 56-year-old was then asked about the treatment and reportedly explained that it is not plasmapheresis but ‘double plasma filtration’. Asked why the company’s advertising refers to the procedure as plasmapheresis, she replied: ‘It is double plasma filtration and not plasmapheresis. I have never had any side effect happen, nor have I ever been informed of any side effect by the company. I tell you in all conscience that if I believed there was any risk or side effect, I would never have done anything to my patients. My aim is only to do good for my patients, and I would never do anything that put any person at risk.’

‘He collapsed while I was trying to find a vein’

At the heart of the defendant’s testimony is, of course, what took place in the period when the singer collapsed. As expected, the 56-year-old was asked by the magistrate to describe, minute by minute, everything that happened during Mazonakis’s treatment, before the sudden deterioration in his health.

Giving her own version of events, Gaka spoke of repeated attempts to find a vein, of interruptions to the treatment, and of the actions she took when, as she claims, she realised the singer’s condition was worsening.

According to her testimony, the treatment began at 2:37pm, as recorded by the machine, with the display indicating a blood exchange. In her account, the first two alerts were triggered because the machine’s tubes had not been opened, so the blood flow could not begin. At 3:22pm, she said, she pressed pause on the treatment because a vein had burst. An attempt to locate a new vein followed and, shortly before 4pm, the blood flow opened again. The procedure was interrupted once more about a minute later, however, when a new problem with a vein arose. Mazonakis then got up, according to the defendant, and went to the bathroom.

‘He made a movement and another vein was blown, and that is why the treatment was paused at 3:46pm. After that he went to the bathroom and I waited for him, intending to try again. He was in the bathroom for five minutes at most. When he came back he was in a normal state. I reconnected him to the monitor and told him I had to find another vein,’ the doctor claimed.

After the singer returned from the bathroom, the defendant said she resumed her efforts to find a suitable vein. She first tried the right arm, without success, and then turned to the left. There, according to her testimony, she made repeated attempts, even using anaesthetic cream.

‘I found a small one on the right palm, which burst again, and then I moved to the other side. The treatment can be carried out with two butterfly needles in the same arm, as long as they are in different veins. I rarely do it. I tried in this case but did not manage it. I moved to the left arm, applied anaesthetic cream to the dorsal surface of the left hand and tried again, but unsuccessfully. I did it another two times in adjacent veins, but again without success. I had decided to make one last attempt and, if it failed, to stop the treatment. I do not remember exactly what time it was. About half an hour had passed since he had returned from the bathroom. Suddenly, while I was watching the monitor, I saw that the ECG was thinning out, the oxygen dropped from 98, where it had been stable, to 89, and his blood pressure fell to 10 over 6, when it had been 14 over 9, measured on the leg,’ she told the magistrate.

‘Five minutes later, EKAB was alerted’

From this point, according to the defendant’s claims, the situation took a dramatic turn. The 56-year-old doctor maintained that she placed an oxygen mask on Mazonakis, called her husband and asked the nurse to prepare adrenaline. At the same time, she began CPR on the singer. According to her testimony, EKAB, the National Emergency Care Centre, was alerted about five minutes later.

In her testimony, Gaka also referred to her own emotional state after the incident, rejecting the charge made against her and expressing her devastation at the loss of the patient. ‘I deny the charge as it is being attributed to me. I am in a state of inner mourning while at the same time having to deal with this entire situation. I declare my utter devastation at the loss of the patient. I would have felt exactly the same whoever my patient may have been,’ she said.

She also addressed the issue of the surgery being cleaned, denying that she had personally given any order to that effect. ‘I did not ask for the space to be cleaned. I was in no position to ask for anything. I was in complete shock. The nurses did it on their own initiative,’ she claimed.

‘The Athens Medical Association was aware of the machines’

Gaka also referred in her testimony to the plasmapheresis machines in her surgery. The 56-year-old claimed that the Athens Medical Association (ISA) knew of their existence, and also mentioned an inspection that, she said, had taken place in 2025. According to information, she also stated that during the ISA’s on-site inspection of the surgery, a patient was undergoing treatment at that very moment.

‘The two machines I have are the most advanced there are. The machine has been declared to the ISA, like all our machines, and an inspection was carried out in 2025, of which there is also photographic material,’ the doctor said, continuing: ‘When the ISA carried out its on-site inspection the machine was there, and on the day of the inspection treatment was in fact taking place. I do not know why there is no reference to the machine in the association’s inspection report. Many inspections have been carried out by many authorities at our surgery. I have not hidden the machine. I have declared the machines to the association. The first one, which was bought in 2023, I declared in 2025.”