EL.AS has so far made at least 60 arrests of people allegedly related to the death of police officer Giorgos Lyggeridis who died from a flare outside the Melina Merkouri stadium, in Rentis.
The operation of the Sports Violence Department of the General Police Directorate of Athens is ongoing, with the police operating in various areas of the basin and mainly in houses and cars of fans in western Athens.
Arrest warrants had been issued for most of them as part of the self-immolation.
The arrested are expected to go to the investigator tomorrow and will face the charges of joining a criminal organization.
The information refers to a voluminous case file involving approximately 158 people.
The case file compiled included testimonies, videos and other findings that demonstrated the existence of a criminal organization behind the attack, while confirming the association of sports violence with organized crime.
The number of those arrested is expected to increase as other people allegedly involved in cases of fan violence have come under the microscope of the authorities.
At the same time, 58 searches have been carried out in houses and 15 in vehicles and a number of persuasive items such as pistols, wooden bats, knives, drugs, clothing, digital media and others have been seized.
However, it is noted that the people who have been arrested so far are fans of the same team, namely Olympiakos.
In addition to the case of the policeman who lost his life, the arrested are allegedly involved in other incidents of fan incidents.
The first on December 3, 2023 (that is, before the events in Rentis) in a match between Volos and Olympiakos, the second on the sidelines of the recent match between Olympiakos and Aris and the third in a match in Ioannina in December 2022, between the local team and of the “red and white”.
New “burning” video
According to the police editor of the “Vimas” and “Neon” newspapers, Vassilis Lambropoulos, who spoke to MEGA, the Greek Police have been investigating the case for the last 5 months and the file that has been created is five and a half thousand pages long.
Not only the events in Rentis are being investigated as a whole, but also many incidents that are considered dating – death between hooligans.
Key evidence to document the involvement of persons, according to Vassilis Lambropoulos’s report, in the attack on the policeman came from a video that the police had found in the third phase and shows the way they are alerted and who is alerting.
Among those arrested is also a trapper manager.
“To be punished, as they deserve”
In the wake of the arrests for his son’s murder during the dramatic events in Rentis last December, the 31-year-old’s father said he was deeply moved by the arrests, speaking to reporters.
“I want them to be punished, as they deserve”: The father of the 31-year-old police officer Giorgos Lyggeridis, who was the victim of the murderous attack with the naval flare in Rentis and ended up 20 days after his severe thigh injury, speaks of “justification”.
“I was waiting for this justice, I was promised it, I want them to be punished, as they deserve.”
“It was a difficult day emotionally, a lot can be done, there are laws. It’s a justification, a principle, my justification, of course, whatever happens, it’s not going to happen”, he added and said about the arrested: “I don’t want to face them, I don’t even want to see them”.
“I lost a son, a hero, I gained another family his platoon. His colleagues are all my sons, I was hugging my son in there” he declared with a trembling voice and tears in his eyes.
Pavlos Marinakis: Such cases require time
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis referred to the EL.AS announcements during the briefing for political editors, stressing at the same time that such cases take time.
Mr. Marinakis referring to the reheated measures of the government on fan violence said that the government assumed its political responsibilities and proceeded with measures on fan violence saying “the measures we had to implement 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, as a result of which we see important games being played like the European ones and where problems were identified by minorities, the necessary disciplinary penalties were imposed by the competent authority”.
Referring to the criminal aspect of the case, he said, “this is not the job of the Government to comment on. The answer is, let us trust the women and men of the Greek Police and the people of the Greek Justice. It is very possible that such very serious investigations require time, documentation, evidence, sobriety and objectivity and he added saying that no one knows, nor could know, specific details. This is not the government’s job. Announcements from the Greek Police will follow, I believe, very soon.”
Tags: Giorgos Lyggeridis arrests murder #31yearold policeman
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