Trans woman found ‘brutally murdered’ in her own home in Greece
Anna Ivankova was found dead in her apartment in Athens, Greece. (Facebook)
A 31-year-old trans woman named Anna Ivankova has been found dead in her apartment in Athens, Greece.
Ivankova was found with multiple stab wounds in her apartment in Agios Panteleimon, in the Greek capital on Monday (10 July). Police were called to the apartment complex after the landlady tried to collect the rent.
Officers from the Attica Security Directorate said a preliminary investigation took place at the scene and officers are continuing to determine the exact causes of her death. No suspects have been named.
Ivankova, who was born in Cuba, reportedly moved to Greece in 2019 after battling against violence and discrimination due to her gender identity.
After moving to Athens, she began working at the LGBTQ+ club Koukles where she performed drag shows and became popular with the local queer community.
Anna Apergi, the president of the Greek not-for-profit Transgender Support Association, wrote in a Facebook statement that Ivankova had been “brutally murdered.”
She added that news outlets misgendered her in several articles, but claimed that the Greek police were at fault after misgendering Ivankova in a press release.
Apergi said that stigma and bigotry meant that there was “no respect” for Ivankova’s gender identity even after her death.
According to ILGA-Europe’s 2023 Rainbow Europe Map and Index, Greece is 13th in a list of 49 countries in terms of LGBTQ+ rights.
One of the main issues the group cites in its report is the current legal framework on gender recognition, calling for it to be reformed and based on “self-determination without the requirement for divorce and including access for non-binary individuals.”
While Greece does have hate crime and speech laws on the basis of gender identity, there are no current policies to tackle the problem.
