A high-profile criminal trial began in Greece charging 142 football fans and Olympiakos chair Evangelos Marinakis with running a crime organisation and causing life-threatening explosions at sporting events. Marinakis and four board members face allegations of supporting the group from 2019-24 and instigating violence with statements; they deny the misdemeanour charges. Marinakis was absent from the courtroom and represented by counsel; some detained defendants remained under police guard. More than 210 witnesses are expected to testify before a three-member bench, and lawyers estimate the trial could last over a year. The probe followed the 2023 death of riot officer George Lyngeridis after clashes involving flares.
"They have dismissed the misdemeanour charges as groundless. Marinakis was not in the packed courtroom at Athens' high-security Korydallos prison on Wednesday and was represented by his lawyer. Masked police officers guarded a few defendants still in detention. More than 210 people will testify before the three-member bench during the trial, which lawyers estimate could last more than a year."
"The investigation was launched after the 2023 fatal injury of a 31-year-old riot police officer, George Lyngeridis, in clashes outside a women's volleyball match between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, a normally low-risk game. Before that match, some of the fans moved a bag of flares and makeshift explosives from a storage room at their football stadium to the volleyball venue, the investigation found. Lyngeridis was hit by a flare during the clashes and died from his injuries weeks later."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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