A judicial council on Thursday ruled to refer more than 140 individuals to trial on charges of participating in a criminal organization related to a 2023 incident of hooligan violence in the Piraeus suburb of Renti that resulted in the death of a police officer.
Among those being referred to trial are the president of the Piraeus-based Olympiacos soccer club, Vangelis Marinakis; the mayor of the port city and Olympiacos vice president, Yiannis Moralis; Olympiacos CEO Dimitris Agrafiotis; and two club vice presidents Kostas Karapapas and Michalis Kountouris. They face misdemeanor charges of inciting sports-related violence and supporting a criminal organization.
“Through multiple acts constituting a continuation of the same crime, they provided all types of assets and financial means, knowing that by doing so they were facilitating or assisting in the commission of criminal activities by a criminal organization which aimed to commit multiple felonies and misdemeanors,” the judges noted in their decision regarding the five leading figures of the popular Piraeus-based soccer club.
Regarding the charge of incitement to acts of violence, the ruling states – in reference to a public statement made by the club a few days before the incident, after the Volos-Olympiacos match – that “acting jointly, publicly and through the internet, they provoked and incited others to commit felonies and misdemeanors, thereby endangering public order. Their actions resulted in the commission of crimes and incited citizens to acts of violence against each other, leading to a disturbance of public peace. These acts were committed in connection with a sporting event, after its conclusion, and away from the venue designated for the event.”
Vangelis Marinakis reponse
Responding to the accusations, the Olympiacos president issued the following statement:
“A panic-stricken Prime Minister and the scandalously favoured media cronies who depend on the Mitsotakis system for their survival are trying to blackmail me and compromise my independence, weaponizing the Justice system once again to do so.
Their efforts constitute a coordinated attempt to gag me, but one that has no chance of success. In any case, this isn’t the first time they’ve tried. Similar attempts have been made unsuccessfully in the past by political and financial interests, but their fabricated cases have always collapsed spectacularly. The evidence is overwhelming: the real victim in this case is Justice and its institutions.
Olympiacos and myself are their overt targets, but their true goal is to erode Press freedom, media independence and ultimately Democracy itself. And these are values on which ASE listed Alter Ego Media, the major Media Group in Greece, will never compromise.
It couldn’t be clearer that the Prime Minister and his staff can neither tolerate the Press performing its crucial role of critiquing power and holding it accountable, nor forgive it for shedding light on the scandals and corruption that riddle the government’s current leadership.
But I have chosen a different path from the governmental mouthpieces, and I will keep on walking it, whatever the price. I have chosen to live by Nikos Kazantzakis’s maxim: “Speak the truth, come what may! Never lower yourself to lying. All those who lie are slaves. A free man always tells the truth.”
I am fully aware how aggravating my choice must be for a Prime Minister and a government which, sensing their power and legitimacy slipping away, are backsliding into a state of affairs increasingly reminiscent of a totalitarian regime.
Well, I will not be an accomplice. I stand firm against the undemocratic practices of this Government, which have left Greece languishing in last place among EU nations in the Global Press Freedom Index and shattered the Greek people’s confidence in the institution of Justice. It’s certainly no coincidence that a majority consider the government to have violated the independence of the judiciary in one case after another, from the wiretapping to the crime at Tempi, and to have shown no respect whatsoever for the victims of the latter and their families. And all this in a country whose GDP per capita is now second to last in the European Union.
My message is this, and it is clear: I am not afraid, I will not be blackmailed, I will not negotiate, I will not back down, I will not submit. The truth will come out. Democracy will prevail. Ultimately, we will prevail (as we always do).”