Soccer riot spawns confusion, conviction
Soccer referee Makis Efthymiadis, beaten up by home team officials and supporters after a match between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos last month, told an Athens court yesterday that police had done nothing to defend him. He also claimed he could not say whether Nikos Spanos, 38, whom the court sentenced yesterday to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for three years, had caused his injuries. «In the footage of the match, it shows that Gabriel Molnar attacked me. [Panathinaikos chairman] Angelos Philippidis and Sergio Markarian did not hit me, but only swore at me,» Efthymiadis said. Molnar is Panathinaikos coach Markarian’s interpreter. Three police officers, who were present at the match, claimed they tried to protect the referee from his attackers but that they could not identify them. Spanos, who was convicted of grievous bodily harm, violent acts and illegally entering a sporting arena, was sentenced in absentia, as he has been hospitalized for injuries sustained in an accident.
