“First of all, I have regretted the time and the moment I was there. I want to apologize, of course an apology doesn’t bring the boy back.”

With this phrase, the 10th defendant for the murder of Alkis Kampanos and the wounding of two of his friends on February 1, 2022, began his apology before the Mixed Jury Court of Thessaloniki.

This is 22-year-old G.K., who was riding in the third car (Polo) and was the one who was holding the sickle during the murderous attack.

At the beginning of his apology, the 22-year-old, after apologizing to Alki’s family and his friends, described his relationship with football and links, saying that he had been playing football since he was young, he is a fan of PAOK, while he used to go to links to watch matches but also to pass the time.

“No one suggested I go, I went of my own accord”

Regarding the fateful night, he mentioned that he was at the Old Patras club. There, he said, were some of his co-accused while the rest arrived later.

According to the 22-year-old accused, on the link he heard the conversation about the fan episode in Oreokastro that had preceded it.

Afterwards, he claimed, “I saw the children then get up and I asked one and he said let’s go to Harilaou”. “No one suggested that I go, I went of my own accord,” he said and added that “I understood that we were going to argue, to hunt.”

Asked by the president of the seat if he has taken part in a similar incident, he claimed that “I have never participated in such an incident before”.

“I found the sickle in the link – At first I thought it was iron”

Continuing his apology, the 22-year-old G.K. he said he found the sickle in the link and not in the car, as he had originally told the investigator.

“I looked in a corner that had irons. I searched the link and found the scythe. I lied and said I found it in the car. I got it from the link. What I had said, investigator, is not true,” he said.

He even added that “at first I thought it was iron. After I saw it, I knew it was a scythe.”

Regarding the reasons why he decided to participate in this attack, he said that it was done completely impulsively.

“I didn’t see Elki at all – I can say for sure that I didn’t hit him and Angelos”

Describing the moments when the attack began, he said that the Polo stopped some distance from the scene and that he was the first to get out.

Walking towards the steps where the murderous attack took place, he said he took out the scythe. “I saw the fight start with the helmet on the steps, this kid with the helmet trying to hit our kid,” he continued in his apology.

He said he then saw a child trying to jump the bars to escape to Gaza. Then, he said, he approached it and hit it in the buttock with the sickle. “I didn’t intend to hit, it came out unconsciously,” he claimed and emphasized that “it was my fault, of course.”

Next, he described how he moved towards the wall. There he received a blow from the helmet. At the point, he said that he did not understand any of the remaining 11 defendants and that he remembers someone, without naming him, beating him with a stick.

Then, he said, he felt something like a push, causing the scythe to fall from his hand.

“I didn’t see Alki at all,” he said at another point in his apology.

“I’ve been in prison for 1.5 years and I think about it every day. My life has changed, that of the other defendants and Alki’s family,” he underlined in another part of his apology.

According to what the 10th defendant claimed in his statement, he tried to find the sickle, but failed. He then tried to find the Polo, however it was not where he expected to find it and he saw it a few meters down.

“I hadn’t seen blood, I didn’t understand what happened”

“I hadn’t seen blood, I didn’t understand what happened. When I found out what happened, I couldn’t believe it. A lot of thoughts went through my mind,” he claimed at another point in his apology while emphasizing that “I certainly did not hit Alkis or A.B.”

When asked by the Prosecutor if he had the sickle with him for revenge, he replied that he did not and that he had it with him for defense, so that no one else would approach him.

Earlier he referred to the fan-motivated attack which left him with an eye problem.

“I was waiting for a bus stop wearing a PAOK uniform. Two motorbikes stopped, they asked me what team I was in, they attacked me.”

Answering a question about whether he feared for his life at that moment, he emphasized that “not only at that moment. I was also afraid for my family, my little brother. I didn’t want to do what they did to me to another child,” she said.

Concluding his statement, the 10th accused said that he is trying to get to the University through prison, he again apologized to Alki’s family and those of his friends, saying that “I apologize profusely and let the mothers know that I, their children, do not I hit them.”

The trial continues with the plea of ​​the 11th defendant for the murder of Alkis Kampanos.