Funeral held for 72-year-old victim of bomb attacks targeting ruling New Democracy party officials, as police continue the hunt for the unknown perpetrators.
Eleni Stamatoukou
Vagia Nestora’s funeral, in Kozani, northern Greece, July 9, 2026. Photo: KozaniLife.gr
Vagia Nestora, 72, the victim of an arson attack carried out by unknown perpetrators in Thessaloniki, was buried on Thursday in Kozani, Western Macedonia.
Nestora died following the arson attack on July 1 outside her apartment building in Thessaloniki. The target was her daughter, Aphroditi Nestora, a parliamentary candidate for the ruling centre-right New Democracy, ND, party.
Prime Minister and ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis and members of the government attended the funeral. Mitsotakis did not make a statement, but a few days ago said the attack “confirms the murderous and inhumane nature of oblivious violence in public life”.
At the church, Nikos Papaioannou, Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, told reporters that “democracy and political dialogue put human existence above all else. Murderers who blindly strike innocent people have no place in a democratic system.”
Opposition PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis expressed his condolences to Nestora’s family at the church, stating that she had “lost her life in a criminal way”, adding: “No tolerance for violence, terrorism, division… the perpetrators must be arrested immediately.”
Representatives of the opposition left-wing SYRIZA and ELAS parties also attended the funeral.
The perpetrators put gas canister bombs outside the apartment buildings of three New Democracy officials in Thessaloniki on July 1, injuring four people and leaving one dead.
The targets, according to government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, were former MP Savvas Anastasiadis, the president of New Democracy’s Thessaloniki Steering Committee, Zisis Ioakimovits, and Afroditi Nestora.
Konstantia Dimoglidou, the police’s spokesperson, told state TV on July 3 that it would not be easy to immediately identify the perpetrators but that “we will have results in the investigation” soon.
“At least three people” participated in the attack she added. Police are still analyzing security footage to map the perpetrators’ movements.
She doubted that anyone would claim responsibility for the attacks. “The targets were specific [but] we do not believe that there will be any assumption of responsibility, due to the tragic outcome of the attack. “The motives will be clarified [only] when the perpetrators are identified and arrested,” she said.
The police’s anti-terrorist unit is in charge of the investigation.
