Almost a year after the murderous attack that “froze” the Panhellenic nation, the twelve defendants will appear today before the Joint Jury Court of Thessaloniki, where their trial is scheduled to begin.
“Don’t hit me anymore…” The phrase that came out of the lips of 19-year-old Alkis Kampanos, shortly before he passed out on the pavement, was an anguished appeal to the perpetrators to stop the continuous heavy beatings and stabbings at his expense, a product – as it would later prove – of blind fan violence. This phrase was to become a slogan against hooliganism and the unfortunate student of Economics of AUTH, a symbol in the fight against violence on and off the pitches.
Almost one year after the murderous attack that “froze” all of Greecethe twelve defendants – aged 21 to 26, all temporary detainees – will appear today before the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki, where their trial is scheduled to begin.
In room 184, on the first floor of the Thessaloniki Courthouse, everything is ready for the “trial of the year” in the city. In the last 24 hours, the administration of the Thessaloniki Court of First Instance arranged the details regarding some zoning issues in view of the start of the trial and among them the definition of the points where the representatives of the media will take positions, as the journalistic interest is expected to be great, especially on first days of the evidentiary process.
It seems like a tragic irony that in the same room and before the same court, two more deadly fan incidents, which took place in Thessaloniki, with young victims, were tried in recent years. These are the cases of 24-year-old Cypriot Nasos Constantinos and 28-year-old Bulgarian Tosko Bozadzhiski.
Why are the 12 accused?
In addition to the murder of Alkis Kampanos, the multi-page summons of the Thessaloniki Criminal Council also includes the attacks against his two friends, in the same incident, in the early hours of February 1, 2022, in the area of Harilaou.
The twelve defendants face the charges of manslaughter, committed (for Alkis) and attempted (for his first injured friend), together. One of them is additionally accused of attempted murder for the second young man who was injured, while the remaining 11 are being prosecuted for this case as simple accomplices in this act. All are further charged with fan-motivated attack resulting in the death and injury of people, possession of objects capable of causing bodily harm, with the aggravating provisions of the Sports Law, illegal carrying of weapons and use of weapons.
The timeline of the case
The “message” of events, according to the referral will, began to unfold on the evening of January 31st, when most of the accused began to gradually arrive at a fan club in the center of Thessaloniki. It seems that in the area of Oreokastro, there had been a fan incident at the expense of “like-minded” people gathered in the association. After this became known, it was proposed by three of them to carry out an organized attack and for this reason, phone calls followed and – among them – to an unknown person who was called to go to the area of Harilaou, from where he informed them that there are some scattered in the area, few people.
Subsequently, the 12 young defendants boarded three cars (the exact position of each in the vehicles is described), with their departure taking place between 11:30 and 11:50 p.m. According to what is stated in the same will, they all brought weapons, including knives, crowbars, metal pipes, gloops, a scythe and a karambit-style knife, had their features obscured by masks, mouthpieces, hoods, caps and helmets, while some left their mobile phones at the link to make it impossible locating them and some others disabled them en route.
“What team are you?”
Seventeen minutes after midnight on February 1st, the perpetrators find 19-year-old Alkis and four other people from his group, who at that time were on the steps of an apartment building at 18 Th. Gazi Street and talking. Having stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road, some approached the unsuspecting victims, asking them: “what group are you?” When they answered – and without any verbal confrontation – the defendants, according to the case file, having got out of the vehicles one after the other, began to attack them suddenly, violently assaulting them and beating them severely with the weapons they were carrying , with punches and kicks.
The five young men ran trying to escape the fury of the perpetrators, but only two of them succeeded at first and one more afterwards, after he was first hit with a sickle, which caused him a deep contusion wound and caused bleeding. Instead, Alkis and another young man received continuous blows for more than a minute, as described in the indictment.
“Don’t hit me anymore, help, I can’t, I’m in pain”
“Alkis was initially standing on the steps of the apartment building and from the blows, from the sticks, crowbars, globes and fists, he fell on the sidewalk, next to the steps… At this point, the defendants managed to repeatedly and severely blows with the knives and the sickle, which caused him to bleed profusely, as well as kicking,” the will states, with the unfortunate 19-year-old begging them to stop, shouting: “Don’t hit me anymore” and “help, I can’t hurt ». The perpetrators only stopped when they perceived the presence of some people who approached them holding objects, so they returned to their cars and disappeared, returning either to the link above or to their homes.
The cause of death
THE death of Alkis Kampanos it occurred at 12.20 after midnight, and, according to the findings of the medical examiner Leda Kovatsis, it was attributed to the combination of the fatal injuries to the lower limbs (he was bleeding uncontrollably from the leg) and the craniocerebral injuries. The injured young man, who tried to help the 19-year-old, received successive injuries (to the legs, chest and head), while his death was prevented due to his strong condition and his timely transfer to the hospital, where he underwent surgery, as stated in the will.
What do the defendants claim?
In their apologies, the defendants (temporarily held in various prisons throughout the country) distanced themselves from the murder of Alkis, while they are expected to move in the same line now.
Some of them may have admitted to being in the attack, but they limit their involvement to the injuries of the 19-year-old’s two friends, and none admit to hitting or stabbing the deceased.
The attitude of Alki’s side of the family
The parents of the deceased student will appear in the trial as civil plaintiffs (in support of the charge), seeking justice for their son. In public appearances, they repeatedly sent a message against fan violence, expressing the hope that the circle of fan blood will be closed and that Alkis will be the last victim.
In fact, his father had proposed the holding of a friendly football match between the team supported by his son, Aris, against his compatriot PAOK (whose supporters are the defendants), in the presence of fans of both teams, in order to send a message of love in all directions.
The trial in numbers and how long it is estimated to last
The trial begins 352 days after the commission of the crime, while the will of reference has 182 pages. The list of prosecution witnesses includes 26 persons, among them medical examiners, police officers, the parents of the 19-year-old, his friends who were attacked, etc.
In addition to the prosecution witnesses, as many others will be examined as defense witnesses. In addition to the prosecution support team, more than 25 defenders of the accused will sit on the lawyers’ benches, as each of them will be represented by two, even three, advocates.
Several dozen are the readable documents, including video footage from security cameras at the scene of the crime, which the defense lawyers will request to be viewed in order to determine the exact position of each accused in the bloody episode.
The length of the trial is unknown and will depend on the frequency of meetings. Defense lawyers, with whom APE-MPE spoke, estimated that at least 30 meetings would be needed, determining the end of the trial in 3 to 4 months.
Measures of EL.AS.
Ahead of the trial scheduled to begin tomorrow, police will take increased measures to preserve order both inside and outside the courts. It has already been announced by the Traffic Police that 26th of October street (in front of Megaro) will remain closed from 6 am to 2 pm.
In recent days, Aris fans have taken to social media to call for a rally outside the courts ahead of the start of the trial to pay tribute to 19-year-old Alkis.
RES-EMP
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