Wife of murdered Greek ambassador jailed over his death in Brazil

A Brazilian woman has been sentenced to 31 years in prison for planning the murder of her husband, the former Greek ambassador to Brazil.

In 2016, Kyriakos Amiridis’ charred remains were found in the boot of a burnt-out car in Rio de Janeiro.

His wife Françoise de Souza Oliveira had been having an affair with a military police officer, Sergio Gomes.

Mr Gomes later confessed to killing the ambassador at the behest of his lover, and he has been jailed for 22 years.

At the end of their three-day trial, a judge described their crime as “bestial”.

Another man, Eduardo Moreira Tedeschi di Melo – a relative of Gomes – was acquitted of murder but has already served one year in prison for helping to hide Mr Amiridis’ body.

Mr Amiridis, 59, served as consul in Rio de Janeiro from 2001-04, and returned to Brazil as ambassador the year he was killed.

He married Françoise in 2004 and the couple have a daughter.

Before his death, Mr Amiridis had travelled from the capital, Brasilia, to the city of Nova Iguacu, north of Rio, to spend the Christmas holidays with his wife and her parents.

Mrs Amiridis first reported him missing, telling police that he’d left their flat without explanation and driven off in a rental car.

The burnt-out car was found the next day under a flyover, with the ambassador’s body inside.

Investigators found bloodstains on a sofa in the flat where the couple had been staying, and it’s believed he was killed there before his body was taken away.