Afghan boxer faces homicide charges in Athens suitcase killing

Sharif Ahmadzai, a 26-year-old man from Afghanistan, faced homicide with intent, robbery and weapons charges in Athens over the death of Scottish aid worker Elisabeth Jane Ross. He appeared in court in the Greek capital on Aug. 5, 2026, after police arrested him in connection with the killing.

Ross, known as Lisa, was 38. Her body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in Athens on July 18, days after she had been reported missing. The discovery turned a missing-person case into a homicide investigation and put Greek authorities in charge of a death that connected Athens with Scotland and Afghanistan.

Ahmadzai was also described as a boxer, and some accounts said he had fled Afghanistan as a teenager and later became a champion. That background helped push the case beyond a single courtroom appearance, because the accused was an Afghan migrant and the victim was a Scottish aid worker whose death happened far from home.

The proceedings in Athens underscored how host countries handle violent crimes involving foreign nationals when the victim and suspect come from different countries and the evidence is gathered under local law. For Ross’s family and the aid community, the case centered on a 38-year-old woman whose body was hidden in a suitcase in the Greek capital, and on the effort to account for her death through Greece’s courts.