Inner workings of hooligans revealed
Case file against dozens sheds light on deadly attack against riot police unit last December
The case file put together by the police Sub-Division for the Prevention of Sports Violence against the participants in the incidents that led to the death of 31-year-old policeman Giorgos Lyngeridis outside a volleyball stadium in Athens last December has shed light on the way the Olympiakos club hooligans orchestrated the attack, the internal hierarchy of Gate 7 organized fans and their relationship with the management of the team.
More than 60 people arrested on Tuesday appeared before the prosecutor, who brought charges against them for 12 felonies including directing and joining a criminal organization, manslaughter, instigating manslaughter, causing an explosion etc.
All requested and were given a deadline to prepare their defense and are expected to appear before investigators in the next few days.
In official documents, the police described that the leading members of the gang had a direct relationship with Olympiakos management executives. They carried accreditations that allowed them to move freely in and out of the stadium and had a paid relationship with either the team or the Municipality of Piraeus. The arrested Gate 7 leader appeared to be working in the Olympiakos boutique. Similarly, the so-called “Romanian,” who is still at large, had been working at Olympiakos Amateur Athletics since 2020, while his contract was terminated on the night of the fatal injury of the 31-year-old riot police sergeant who was struck by a naval flare. Two more people accused as leaders were employed as contract workers with the municipality.
The attack took place shortly after the end of the first set of the volleyball match between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos.
In their recorded mobile phone conservations some of the suspects expressed anxiety about being found by the authorities while others boasted about their exploits. The probe showed that 32 of the accused met before the game outside the VIP gate of the Karaiskaki Stadium. They loaded ammunition (naval flares and dynamite), while others were tasked to buy petrol to make Molotov cocktails. They then all headed to the Melina Merkouri Indoor Stadium to attack the riot police unit stationed there.
The Hellenic Police (ELAS) said that the perpetrators did not wear their group’s insignia as they usual do, but black clothes to make it more difficult for them to be identified.
