With the testimony of defense witnesses, the trial for the murder of Alkis and the wounding of his two friends continues at the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki.

12 PAOK fans are sitting in the dock and are accused of manslaughter, committed and attempted, as well as other crimes.

During today’s hearing, as first witness the mother of the 1st defendant testified.

“I don’t know anything about the case. To apologize to Alki’s family, on behalf of my family. I am in a difficult position to speak. I had him by my side, he was helping me. He was a good kid. I’m in a state of shock,” said the witness and pointed out how she found out about the incident:

“At some point there was a knock on the door, it was the police with my child. She told me crying: “Mom, I didn’t hit him.” I couldn’t understand what was going on. The police treated us very badly. They were asking us how we found this lawyer. “Who pays him, PAOK?” a policeman asked me. And even: “Where did you find money? You are from Albania”.

Another policeman told me: “This kid is not the killer. He is the idiot of the group.” I don’t know why he said that. If my child’s hand hit Alki, I couldn’t bear it. If he did, I wouldn’t be here today. I can not believe it.

My son worked for an awning company. In the link I didn’t know it goes. That day he said he was going to see a match. When he came back he must not have slept at all that night. He was worried. In the morning he got up to go to work. He didn’t talk to me on the street like he used to. I asked him what had happened but he didn’t answer.”

He also added: “I have the responsibility. I was at fault too. He had never given rights. I knew how he was going on the field, but that’s about it. I didn’t know which link it was going to. Only on the field. The next night he didn’t come home. I didn’t know he was arrested. I was worried because he wasn’t answering the phone. I was afraid he had an accident. Late at night I was picked up by the police. I was told that he is being held and that he is involved in a serious incident. When I saw him in prison, he was a mess. He was crying and was held by the police until he recovered. He feels a lot of remorse for all this evil.”

“No matter how many apologies we ask, it’s not enough”

Transferring the words of their parents to Alki’s parents, she began her testimony the sister of the 2nd defendant:

“I express my deepest condolences. We are overwhelmed. No matter how many apologies we ask, they are not enough. My mother has not attended any meetings because she cannot face Alki’s parents. She is concerned with the “why”” testified the witness, while her accused brother burst into silent tears.

“We learned about the incident on the day of the arrest. It happened below our house on February 6th. We were all already shocked by Alki’s death. We didn’t know why he was arrested. Then we found out that he had taken part and that he was in the 2nd car. We have lost the ground beneath our feet. I couldn’t understand why he did this. I knew that he had been to the stadium once and that he likes PAOK. On the phone days later he said he got a knife from the joint. “Because I didn’t know what I was going to face” he told me and added: “I hit a kid because he hit me with his helmet”. He swore to me that he didn’t touch a single hair of Alkis. I wish we could go back in time…”

She emphasized that “he is unjustified. As a family we want him punished for what he did. And he himself expects to be punished for what he has done. He has regretted it. Our middle brother played goalie at Mars. That is why banners of Mars were found. There was no confrontation between them when they were watching matches at home,” he added.