Greek ambassador to Brazil killed by wife's policeman lover

A policeman in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro on Friday confessed to killing the Greek ambassador to Brazil after the envoy's wife directed him to do so. The policeman was reportedly romantically involved with the diplomat's wife.

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The Greek ambassador, Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was missing since Monday night and a case was registered after his Brazilian wife Françoise reported to the police on Wednesday about her husband's disappearance. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter.

However, after police investigation, Brazilian officer Sergio Moreira, 29, confessed to killing the ambassador late Monday night in the Amiridises-owned home in Rio de Janeiro. 

Investigator Evaristo Magalhaes said that the diplomat's wife, 40, and the policeman plotted the murder of the envoy a few days before before the act. Reports state that both the police officer and the envoy's wife are in police custody. The police have also detained a cousin of the police officer who was on the lookout while Moreira committed the crime. The cousin also helped Moreira carry the envoy's body outside the house with a promise of being paid around $25,000.

"This was a tragic, cowardly act, but we worked tirelessly to crack this case as soon as possible," the investigator said in a news conference. The ambassador's body was found burnt and the exact cause of death has not been determined yet. Police reports state that Amridi's blood was found on a couch in his home, indicating that he may have been stabbed to death before his body was burnt in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Brazilian President Michel Temer wrote to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, saying that the death of the ambassador has caused him deep sadness and that he extends his condolences to the diplomat's loved ones and the people of Greece.

Greek foreign ministry spokesman Stratos Efthymiou in Athens said that the government had no comments to make. Kyriakos Amiridis served as Greece's consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004. He was also the Greece's ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he was posted to Brazil in 2016.