The trial for the killing of Greek police officer Georgios Lyggeridis by hooligans began on Wednesday in Athens. Among the 147 defendants are five members of the Olympiacos FC Management, including club owner Vangelis Marinakis.
Of the 147 defendants, 142 face prosecution for forming and joining a criminal organisation. The five members of the club management face charges of supporting and financing a criminal organisation and of inciting sporting violence. In addition to Marinakis, they are Giannis Moralis, Kostas Karapapas, Michalis Kountouris and Dimitris Agrafiotis.
Lyggeridis’s parents in an interview on SKAI TV demanded justice for their son. “It has been two years since our child was murdered, and we experience his loss and great pain every day. We expect a fair trial and that everyone who participated in this heinous crime will receive the punishment they deserve,” his mother, Evgenia, said.
Lyggeridis, 31, was fatally injured by a flare thrown by brawling Olympiacos fans during a fight outside a sports stadium in Athens on December 7, 2023, where a volleyball match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos was being held; he died 20 days later in hospital.
The Greek Council of Criminal Courts in April 2025 referred the five members of the management of Olympiacos FC to trial. It accepted that from November 18, 2019, to April 22, 2024, they provided financial and material support to a criminal organisation, knowing that they were “facilitating or assisting in the commission of criminal activities of a criminal organisation”.
According to the indictment, the defendants also incited others to commit crimes through a public announcement by the team, a few days before the killing. According to the court, this “resulted in the commission of crimes and incited citizens to violence among themselves, resulting in a disturbance of public peace”.
The referral to trial prompted Marinakis, in a press release published on the Olympiacos website, to accuse Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of attempting to use the justice system as a weapon against him, adding that “this is a coordinated effort to silence me but a hopeless one”.
Marinakis also owns the English Premier League club Nottingham Forest and is the principal shareholder of companies operating in shipping, media, consumer services, green energy, and real estate.
A 20-year-old was sentenced to life in May for the fatal flare that struck Lyggeridis.
Greek media report that the trial is set to be lengthy, including up to 250 witnesses.