At 57 the arrests for the Lyggeridis murder

More than 50 arrests were made in the last 24 hours by police officers of the Sub-Directorate for Combating Violence in Sports Venues, for the murderous attack with a naval flare against the 31-year-old police officer Giorgos Lyggeridis that took place on December 7, 2023 outside the “Melina Merkouri” stadium in Rentis.

The operation is in full swing and detailed announcements are expected from the Greek Police about the arrested, who, according to information, amount to 57 and are going to face charges, among others, for participation in a criminal organization, while the file that has been filed includes more than 150 people.

According to information, among those arrested is the 16-year-old brother of the 18-year-old who admitted to throwing the flare, as well as a 26-year-old manager of a Greek trapper.

The investigation by the Authorities concerns both the case of the death of the young policeman outside the stadium in Rentis and other incidents of fan incidents.

It is recalled that the 31-year-old MAT police officer died on December 27, after 20 days of hospitalization, after being seriously injured by a naval flare that he had received in incidents that took place outside the “Melina Merkouri” stadium in Rentis during during the volleyball match between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.

Pavlos Marinakis: Such cases require time, we must trust ELAS and the Justice

The government representative, Pavlos Marinakis, was asked about the matter at noon on Monday, in a briefing for political editors, replying that such cases take time, that the government is not involved since they concern the Greek Police and the Judiciary, and that he believes that there will be announcements soon from ELAS.

Specifically answering a related question, Mr. Marinakis clarified that the murder was the final straw for Greek society for the incidents of violence that took place mainly in football stadiums.

Watch video with the statements of the government representative:

As he said, at the time, the government had taken decisions in two parts. The first concerned the responsibility of the State, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of sports fans staying out of the stadiums for two months. “Everything we said then, we put into practice. And the cameras and the personalized tickets, with the result – and I say this with still moderate optimism, because this requires constant control – that we see very important games being played, just like the European games are played, with humane conditions. But also when some minorities deviate from what is foreseen, they should be subject to strict and automatic fines or disciplinary penalties, after all, which have been imposed by the competent Authority”, emphasized the government representative.

Continuing, he referred to the second part concerning the criminal dimension. As he said, “this is not the job of the Government to comment on. I have received, quite rightly, from you, from your colleagues and here and on broadcasts a lot of questions about what happened in this particular investigation. The answer is, let us trust the women and men of the Greek Police and the people of the Greek Justice. It is very likely that such very serious investigations require time, documentation, evidence, sobriety and objectivity. It is very important to understand that many people both in the Police and in the Judiciary work on many cases with the sole aim of protecting citizens and it is not the job of any party or any Government. Such phenomena obviously cannot be tolerated. Specific details, none of us know, nor could know. This is not the government’s job. Announcements from the Greek Police will follow, I believe, very soon.”

ELAS’ announcement about the business:

“A large-scale operation by the Sub-Directorate for Combating Violence in the sports grounds of the Attica Security Directorate has been in full progress since the early hours of this morning to arrest people involved in the incident of the fatal injury of a police officer on 7-12-2023 at a sports event in Renti. So far, dozens of people have been brought in as well as a large number of searches in homes and vehicles, while various items of evidence have been seized.”

Source: protothema.gr