Vangelis Marinakis, the president of Olympiacos FC and owner of Premier League club Nottingham Forest, has been ordered to stand trial in Greece, accused of supporting a criminal organisation and inciting sports-related violence.
The charges stem from the death of 31-year-old police officer Georgios Lyggeridis, who succumbed to injuries sustained from a flare thrown during violent clashes between football fans in Athens last December.
The incident occurred during a volleyball match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos on 7 December 2023. Lyggeridis died 20 days later in hospital.
The Athens Judicial Council of the Misdemeanours Court has referred Marinakis and four other Olympiacos officials—Giannis Moralis, Kostas Karapapas, Michalis Kountouris, and Dimitris Agrafiotis—for trial.
In a strongly-worded statement on the Olympiacos website, Marinakis claimed he was the target of political persecution.
“The Prime Minister, together with … the Mitsotakis system media crutches are attempting to blackmail me and hold me hostage, once again instrumentalising justice,” he wrote.
“This is a coordinated effort to silence me but a hopeless one. It is not, after all, the first time that such an attempt has been made. Political and economic interests have tried the same unsuccessfully in the past through fabricated cases and accusations that fell with a bang. The evidence is overwhelming and demonstrates that the first victim in this case is justice itself and its institutions.”
The trial concerning the officer’s death began in February. In total, 147 individuals—including Marinakis and the other Olympiacos board members—face felony and misdemeanour charges related to the case.
This is not the first time Marinakis has faced legal scrutiny. In 2011, he was among 70 individuals implicated in one of Greece’s largest football match-fixing scandals. He was later acquitted on the recommendation of the prosecutor.
Source: Balkan Insight
