Brazil police interrogate missing Greek envoy's wife after body found

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian police interrogated the wife of missing Greek ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis on Friday, a day after his burned-out rental car was found with a body inside, a source close to the investigation told AFP.

The ambassador's Brazilian wife, Francoise Amiridis, and two other people -- all considered "suspects" -- were brought in for questioning at the homicide division for Baixada Fluminense, a neighbourhood on Rio de Janeiro's west side, the source said.

Francoise Amiridis had already been questioned Thursday about her husband's disappearance, but "the division chief wanted to see her again," said the source.

The ambassador's charred rental car could be seen in the parking lot outside the police station, an AFP correspondent said.

The other two suspects are a policeman and a young man, the source said.

Police suspect Amiridis was killed in a "crime of passion," Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported on its website.

Police have still not confirmed whether the body found in the car was that of the 59-year-old ambassador, who was named Greece's envoy to Brazil this year.

But a source at the Greek foreign ministry confirmed that the car was the one Amiridis had rented.

Amiridis had been on vacation with his family in Nova Iguacu, on Rio's north side, since December 21.

He had been due to fly back to Brasilia on January 9, a Greek embassy official told AFP.

But he went missing Monday night, after leaving the apartment they were renting and taking the car, according to Brazilian media. His wife formally reported him missing on Wednesday.

Amiridis had previously served as Greece's consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004.

He served as Greece's ambassador to Libya from 2012 to 2016.

He has one daughter, according to the embassy in Brasilia.