A prosecutor yesterday charged five Olympiakos soccer fans with instigation in the murder of a rival supporter during a mass brawl at Paeania, northeast of Athens, last month.

Prosecutor Eleni Raikou filed the charges against the five fans of the Piraeus club who were brought in to testify last week as the chief suspects in the murder of 22-year-old Panathinaikos fan Michalis Filopoulos.

Two of the five unnamed suspects are members of Olympiakos’s hardcore supporters’ club Thyra 7 (Gate 7). One of the pair is also a member of the governing board of Olympiakos soccer club.

All five suspects have denied taking part in the violence last month, when more than 500 hooligans clashed at a prearranged meeting. The case file will now be forwarded to a magistrate entrusted with the main investigation.