Greek police have arrested Ioanna Gaka and Ilias Theodoropoulos, the two doctors who run and own the private clinic in Athens where singer Giorgos Mazonakis died. Investigators said new evidence contradicted the account the doctors had given of his final hours.
The couple arrived, escorted by police, at Athens police’s Crime Suppression and Detection Sub-Directorate at Kypseli police station on Thursday afternoon. Their arrest came immediately after a lengthy search of the clinic on Karneadou Street in Kolonaki, carried out in the presence of a prosecutor, an official from Greece’s forensic investigations directorate — informally dubbed the Greek “FBI” — and other officers.
The two doctors will remain in police custody. The officers handling the case are expected to brief the prosecutor in detail on the evidence gathered and receive instructions on next steps. Investigators said the situation could change dramatically for the couple in the coming hours, given what they described as incriminating new evidence.
A team from the forensic investigations directorate seized a large number of digital exhibits during the search. Investigators found that the plasmapheresis machine used for the procedure had, in fact, been used. This contradicts what Gaka had told police the previous day, when she said the procedure had not yet begun and that Mazonakis’s collapse occurred while intravenous catheters were still being inserted.
Security camera footage also showed a significant discrepancy between the time the doctors said Mazonakis arrived at the clinic and the time he is seen arriving on camera, investigators said. Footage appears to show him entering shortly after 1pm, rather than at 4pm as the doctors had stated in their testimony.
Mazonakis had a plaster on his head. According to statements from Gaka and a clinic employee, the singer told them: “I felt dizzy and fell on the stairs as I was leaving the house.”
The forensic team will examine all seized digital material to establish whether any attempt was made to destroy evidence after Mazonakis’s death. Police earlier searched the couple’s home in Psychiko. The singer’s sisters, Maria and Vasso, also came to the police station.
Four folders and a bag of evidence taken from the Kolonaki clinic
Officers from the forensic investigations directorate left the Karneadou Street clinic shortly before 4pm carrying four large folders and a bag full of evidence. The material was loaded into police vehicles outside the building for transfer to the relevant laboratories, as part of the investigation into the clinic’s operating conditions.
Officers carried out a thorough search of the premises run by Theodoropoulos and Gaka, where Mazonakis suffered his cardiac arrest a day earlier. The investigation is focused on establishing whether the clinic held all the required licences, whether its equipment met legal requirements, and whether any violations could lead to criminal prosecution.
Two plasmapheresis machines found at the clinic, believed to be held legally
During the search, officers found two plasmapheresis machines on the premises, which officials believe the owners held legally. Both doctors were present throughout and, in the presence of the prosecutor, police and forensic officers, were asked to show officers every part of the clinic. Police also contacted a specialist haematologist, who explained to them how the plasmapheresis procedure is carried out. Police went on to search Mazonakis’s home in Panorama, Voula.
The singer’s final minutes
In her statement to police, Gaka described Mazonakis’s final minutes at the Stem Cell clinic on Wednesday afternoon, when he suffered cardiac arrest.
She said that on Tuesday afternoon, Mazonakis had undergone an initial check, which found his body under considerable strain, and that he had difficulty speaking during their conversation. She said Mazonakis asked her what could be done immediately, as he had an event coming up in the following days and wanted to improve his condition quickly. She said she suggested a blood-cleansing procedure using a specialised machine, and told him the treatment carried no side effects or contraindications; he agreed to go ahead.
The following day, Wednesday, Gaka said Mazonakis arrived at the Kolonaki clinic appearing not to have slept, and that she again noticed a problem with his speech, saying “he wasn’t speaking correctly.” Describing the procedure, she told police a catheter was placed in his right arm, and an attempt was then made to place a second catheter in his left arm, as the method requires. She said his vital signs — blood pressure, oxygen levels and body temperature — were normal up to that point, but that while trying to complete the second catheter placement, she noticed a sudden deterioration, with his blood pressure and oxygen levels dropping.
She said the procedure was stopped immediately, and that she called her husband, with whom she began CPR while alerting Greece’s National Centre for Emergency Care (EKAV); she said resuscitation continued until paramedics arrived. Gaka claims Mazonakis was still alive when he left the Kolonaki clinic, and maintains that all the clinic’s machines were certified, saying she would provide the relevant certificates.
According to reports, Theodoropoulos, Gaka’s husband and the clinic’s co-owner, has denied any involvement, maintaining that Gaka had full responsibility for managing the clinic, administering treatments and monitoring patients.
Despite Gaka’s claims that the clinic’s equipment was certified, both Athens Medical Association president Giorgos Patoulis and Panhellenic Medical Association president Matina Pagoni said the clinic held a licence only for general medical practice, which does not cover treatments such as plasmapheresis, and that no such machines were found during a licensing inspection in 2025.
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