In a barrage of arrests hooligan of Olympiakou for involvement in his fatal injury MAT police officer Giorgos Lyggeridis and in at least 14 more cases the Attica Securityin the largest-ever operation against her fan violence in the country.
By the evening hours of Monday, the arrests had exceeded 60, while the case file includes the names of a total of 150 defendants.
They are all organized fans of Olympiakos, some of whom are even described by police sources as leading members of Thira 7.
Based on the case file, the charges of moral complicity and complicity in the fatal wounding of the 31-year-old police officer last December are to be attributed to them on a case-by-case basis.
Some emerged that they had not only a physical presence but also an organizational role in the attacks against the platoon outside the “Melina Merkouri” stadium, culminating in the death of the MAT deputy warden.
Their involvement emerged from witness statements, video edited by THE GREEK POLICE. but also the removal of telephone privacy. A process that revealed to the Security officers their internal hierarchy: who called whom in the critical hours before and after the police officer was injured.
His 18-year-old minor brother, who had been arrested and remanded for the same case just two twenty-four hours after the dramatic events, was also arrested for involvement in the fatal injury of Giorgos Lyggeridis.
According to reports, EL.AS. places in top of the hierarchy five people. One of them is known in the ranks of organized Olympiacos fans by his first name, “Iosif”. In many videos of incidents in stadiums around Greece, he appears to participate with an organizational role and the accreditation of the team passed around his neck.
In the incidents in Rentis, he is said to have been physically present and to have given the order to the young people who were in the stands of the stadium to go out and attack the police en masse. He was arrested early Monday in Ioannina with five thousand euros in cash and four mobile phones. The second from the group of “five” is the 26-year-old “manager” of the trap singer who also happens to be the head of the association of organized fans of OSFP in Ilion.
He had been called to give a statement to the Police already in the first hours after the dramatic events in Rentis, as the other people involved in the case had pointed to him as the person who had taken to the indoor stadium and distributed the naval flares to the young hooligans. One of these flares had hit the policeman in the leg, causing him to bleed profusely and ultimately to his death.
Dozens of arrests in the country’s biggest-ever operation against fan violence – A total of 150 accused in the case file.
The third person described as a participant in the leadership group is a 30-year-old man, who a decade ago had occupied the media, and not only, after he was sentenced to a prison sentence without parole for the arson – in 2012 – of the barbershop of a Pakistani national in Metamorfosi, acting then on behalf of the Golden Dawn.
In top of the hierarchy, as it is described in the court documents, there is also a young man from Korydallos known by the nickname “Shark” and the one called “Romanos”. The latter was arrested in April this year as the protagonist of a civil conflict between Olympiakos fans outside the “Karaiskaki” stadium on the sidelines of the Olympiakos – Ari match for the Super League playoffs.
Those in the know say that this specific clash was connected to the ongoing investigation of the Hellenic Police. Several more of the 150 defendants who were identified thanks to high-definition video obtained by police officers from the Sports Violence Subdivision are believed to have been involved in the Rentis incidents. The video in question was filmed by an organized fan of Olympiakos in order to post it – possibly – on social networks. In it are captured all the preparatory actions that preceded until the hooligans leave the closed volleyball court and move towards the MAT.
From 2019
Apart from the Lyggeridis case, however, the case file for the formation of a criminal organization attributes involvement to the arrested in 14 more cases. These are incidents of fan violence starting in 2019 and reaching the beginning of April this year.
Examples include the incidents at the Panthessal Stadium in Volos on the sidelines of the Volos – Olympiakos match, the incidents in 2022 at the Zosimados stadium in Ioannina between PAS Ioannina and Olympiakos, the Molotov cocktail attack against the SKAI television station, on the sidelines of a basketball game of Olympiakou, in December 2022, the attack on the coach that transported the AEK team to the “Karaiskaki” stadium in April 2023, as well as several attacks on MAT police officers on the sidelines of football matches.
The list is completed by the stabbing of a female Panathinaikos hooligan in February 2019 in Ilion (initially attributed to a robbery) and the stabbing of a PAO fan during a pre-arranged meeting on Marathon Avenue in July 2023. Those arrested are expected to be taken to the prosecutor today.
