Zacharias "Zak" Kostopoulos ( gr, Ζαχαρίας «Ζακ» Κωστόπουλος; 22 August 1985 – 21 September 2018) was a Greek-American activist, defending the rights of LGBT people,

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immun ...

people,

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work i ...

s and refugees. He was also a

drag performer The term "drag" refers to the performance of exaggerated masculinity, femininity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininity and a drag king is someone ( ...

under the name Zackie Oh. He was killed at the center of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. The trial ended on 3 May 2022, with two men having been found guilty.

Life and career

He was born in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in 1985 to a Greek immigrant family, came to Greece at the age of seven, went abroad again and returned. He studied acting and marketing. He worked at the "Athens Check Point", and volunteered with Positive Voice (Association of HIV-positive people of Greece), while writing articles on the internet and in newspapers for issues related to human rights, sexuality and HIV. He was also the president of the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece (OLKE). In the municipal elections of 2014, he stood for election to the Athens municipal council on the electoral list ('Initiative for a New and Ecological Athens', ). In recent years he participated in drag performances in Athens with the alias "Zackie Oh". He was HIV positive. In 2017, he performed

Disco Inferno "Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had limit ...

at the end of Athens Pride.

Death

He was killed on 21 September 2018 at Gladstonos Street in the center of

. For his death, 6 people have been charged, but the trial of the case had been postponed due to the measures against

COVID-19 pandemic in Greece The COVID-19 pandemic in Greece is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case in Greece was confirmed on 26 February 2020 when a 38-year-old woman ...

. However, on October 21, 2021, the trial of six people – including four police officers – began for his murder. On 3 May 2022, two men were found guilty, while the four police officers who faced charges for their involvement were found innocent.

Legacy

Kostopoulos was buried in the town of Kirra where he grew up. Since 2018, activists like Menelas Siafakas organize yearly marches in Athens to commemorate Kostopoulos' death and call for justice against his killers. The slogans "Zackie lives, smash the Nazis" (which rhymes in Greek: ) and "cops, TV, neo-Nazis, all the bastards work together" () were chanted at events across the country. In 2019, Nasos Iliopoulos, who is the leader of the Syriza faction inside the Municipal Council of Athens, proposed the renaming of Gladstonos street ( el, οδός Γλάδστωνος) to Zak Kostopoulos street ( el, οδός Ζακ Κωστόπουλου, link=no). The Mayor of Athens,

Kostas Bakoyannis Kostas Bakoyannis ( el, Κώστας Μπακογιάννης; born 16 March 1978) is a Greek politician. Having served as mayor of the town of Karpenisi, he was popularly elected Regional governor of Central Greece in the 2014 local elections. ...

, responded with a counter-proposal to create a monument against intolerance, racism, and hatred, which the majority voted in favor. In 2021, a scientific researcher of the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

, named two newly discovered species of cyanobacteria, the ''Iphianassa zackieohae'' and the ''Speos fyssasii'', after the activists Zak Kostopoulos and

Pavlos Fyssas Pavlos Fyssas ( gr, Παύλος Φύσσας; 10 April 1979 – 17 September 2013), also known by his stage name Killah P (meaning "Killer of the Past"), was a Greek rapper, notable for his participation and performance in musical projects, as ...

respectively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostopoulos, Zak 1985 births 2018 deaths American murder victims Greek murder victims Male murder victims Deaths by beating in Europe 2018 murders in Greece Gay politicians American gay actors American gay writers American drag queens 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Greek LGBT writers American LGBT journalists LGBT people from New York (state) American LGBT rights activists HIV/AIDS activists People with HIV/AIDS Greek LGBT rights activists 2018 in LGBT history