Nottingham Forest owner and Olympiacos president, Evangelos Marinakis, has gone on trial in Athens over allegations of instigating football-related violence and supporting a criminal organisation in Greece.
According to Mail Online, the 58-year-old and four other Olympiacos board members face two misdemeanour charges linked to incidents that allegedly occurred between 2019 and 2024. Prosecutors accuse them of encouraging violence through public statements against authorities and of backing a criminal group.
In addition, 142 football fans are charged with operating as part of a criminal organisation and causing life-threatening explosions at sporting events. Seven of them are accused of leading the group. All defendants have denied any wrongdoing.
Marinakis did not appear in court on Wednesday at the high-security Korydallos Prison complex in Athens. He was represented by his lawyer, Vassilis Dimakopoulos, who told BBC Sport that the accusations were “totally baseless.”
Reuters reports that more than 210 witnesses are expected to testify before the three-member judicial panel, with legal experts predicting that the trial could take several years to conclude.
The proceedings stem from a 2023 investigation into the death of 31-year-old riot police officer George Lyngeridis, who was fatally injured during clashes outside a women’s volleyball match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos — typically considered a low-risk fixture. The arrests of several fans followed in 2024.
“This is a landmark trial,” said Vaso Pantazi, a lawyer representing one of the defendants, who maintained that her client and others “were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The court adjourned the session until November 25, after the presiding judge read the list of defendants and witnesses.
