The time of the trial for the murder case of 19-year-old Alkis Kampanos

«Don't hit me anymore...». The phrase that came from the lips of 19-year-old Alkis Kambanos, shortly before he died lying on the pavement, was an anguished plea to the perpetrators to stop the continuous violent beatings and stabbings against him, the product - as it would later turn out - of blind fan violence. This phrase was to become a slogan against hooliganism and the unfortunate student of Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a symbol in the fight against violence on and off the pitch.

Almost a year after the murderous attack that «froze» the nation, the twelve defendants - aged 21 to 26 years old, all of them temporary prisoners - 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 Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki has taken care of the details concerning some spatial issues in view of the start of the trial, including the designation of the places where the media representatives will be seated, as the journalistic interest is expected to be great, especially in the first days of the evidentiary proceedings.

It seems tragically ironic that in the same courtroom and before the same court, two more deadly fan incidents, which took place in Thessaloniki, involving young people, were tried in recent years. These are the cases of the 24-year-old Cypriot Nassos Konstantinou and the 28-year-old Bulgarian Tosko Bozadziski.

Why are the 12 accused

The multi-page indictment of the Thessaloniki Plenary Council, apart from the murder of Alkis Kampanos, also includes the attacks against his two friends, in the same incident, in the morning of February 1, 2022, in the area of Charilaou.

The twelve defendants face charges of manslaughter with malice aforethought, completed (for Alkis) and attempted (for his first wounded friend), jointly. One of them is additionally charged with attempted manslaughter for the second young man who was wounded, while the remaining 11 in this case are being prosecuted as mere accomplices in this particular act. Further, all of them are charged with assault with fan motivation, resulting in death and injury to people, possession of objects capable of causing bodily harm, with the aggravating provisions of the Sports Law, illegal carrying and use of weapons.

The chronicle of the case

The «tangle» of events, according to the indictment, began to unfold on the evening of January 31, when most of the accused began to arrive at a fan association in the centre of Thessaloniki. It seems that a fan incident against «like-minded» people gathered in the area of Oraiokastro had preceded this. After this became known, it was suggested by three of them that an organised attack should be carried out and for this reason, telephone calls were made to - among them - an unknown person who was called to go to the area of Harilaou, where he informed them that there were a few people scattered in the area.

Subsequently, the 12 young defendants boarded three cars (the exact position of each of them in the vehicles is described), with their departure taking place between 11:30 and 11:50 pm. According to what is stated in the same warrant, they all carried weapons, such as knives, crowbars, metal pipes, clubs, a sickle and a karambit knife, had their features covered with masks, neck masks, hoods, caps and helmets, while some left their mobile phones at the link to make it impossible to locate them and some others deactivated them en route.

«What team are you?»

Seventeen minutes after midnight on February 1, the perpetrators identified 19-year-old Alkis and four other people from his group, who at that time were on the steps of an apartment building on Th. Gazi 18 and were talking. Having parked their vehicles in the middle of the street, some approached the unsuspecting victims, addressing the question to them: «what group are you?». When they replied - and without any verbal confrontation - the defendants, according to the case file, having got out of the vehicles one after the other, started attacking them suddenly, violently assaulting and hitting them violently with the weapons they had on them, with fists and kicks.

The five young men ran trying to escape from the fury of the perpetrators, but only two of them succeeded from the beginning and one more afterwards, but after he was hit with a scythe, which caused a deep fracture and caused bleeding. On the contrary, Alkis and another young man were hit continuously 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, batons and punches he fell to the pavement, next to the steps... At this point, the defendants inflicted on him the repeated and violent blows with the knives and scythe, which caused him to bleed profusely, as well as with kicks,» the verdict said, with the unfortunate 19-year-old pleading with them to stop, shouting: «Don't hit me anymore» and «help, I can't help it, I can't hurt». The perpetrators only stopped when they became aware of the presence of some people holding objects who approached them, whereupon they returned to their cars and disappeared, returning either to the above link or to their homes.

The cause of death

The death of Alkis Kabanos occurred at 12.20 after midnight, and, according to the findings of the forensic pathologist Lida Kovatsis, was attributed to the combination of fatal injuries in the lower limbs (he was bleeding profusely from the leg) and craniocerebral injuries. The injured young man, who tried to help the 19-year-old, received repeated injuries (to the legs, chest and head), while his death was prevented due to his strong constitution and his timely transport to the hospital, where he underwent surgery, the verdict said.

What the defendants claim

In their apologies, the accused (temporarily detained in various penitentiaries 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 to the two friends of the 19-year-old and none admit to hitting or stabbing the deceased.

The attitude of Alkis' family

The parents of the deceased student will attend the trial as civil plaintiffs (in support of the prosecution), asking for the vindication of their son. In their public appearances they have repeatedly sent a message against fan violence, expressing the hope that the cycle of fan bloodshed will come to an end and Alkis will be the last victim.

In fact, his father had proposed the holding of a friendly football match between the team his son supported, Aris, and 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 expected to last

The trial starts 352 days after the crime was committed and the indictment is 182 pages long. The list of prosecution witnesses includes 26 people, including forensic doctors, police officers, the 19-year-old's parents, his friends who were attacked, etc.

In addition to the prosecution witnesses, as many others will be examined as defence witnesses. In addition to the prosecution support team, more than 25 defenders of the accused will be seated on the lawyers' benches, each of them represented by two, even three, counsel.

There are several dozen documents to be read, including video footage from security cameras at the crime scene, which the defence lawyers will request to be shown in order to determine the exact position of each defendant in the bloody incident.

The duration of the trial is unknown and will depend on the frequency of the meetings. Lawyers from the defence side, whom APPE-MPA spoke to, expressed the estimate that at least 30 sessions will be needed, putting the end of the trial at 3 to 4 months.

Measures of the EL.AΣ.

Ahead of the trial scheduled to begin tomorrow, the police will take increased measures to maintain order both inside and outside the courts. It has already been announced by the traffic police that the 26th October Street (in front of the Maison) will remain closed from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In the last few days, Aris fans have called on social media for a gathering outside the courts in view of the start of the trial in order to pay tribute to the memory of 19-year-old Alkis.

Stergios Tziamantanis