The trial for the murder of Alki Kampanou begins
First entry: Wednesday, January 18, 2023, 06:23
“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 beatings and stabbings against him, a product – as it would later prove – of being blind. 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 a year after the murderous attack that “froze” the Panhellenic nation, the twelve defendants – aged 21 to 26, all 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 all about the “trial of the year” in the city. With the care of the administration of the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki, the details related to some zoning issues were regulated in the last 24 hours, meaning 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 not great, especially the first days of the evidentiary process.
It seems like a tragic irony that in the same room and before the same court, in recent years, two more deadly fan incidents, which took place in Thessaloniki, with young victims, were judged. 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 Alki Kampanou, 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 for this case are being prosecuted as mere accomplices in this act. Furthermore, all are accused of fan-motivated attack, which resulted in the death and injury of people, possession of objects capable of causing bodily harm, with the aggravating provisions provided for in the Sports Law, illegal carrying 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 31, 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 they were informed 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, glops, a scythe and a karambit-type knife, had their features covered with masks, wine coolers, hoods, caps and helmets, while some left their mobile phones at the joint to avoid being spotted. 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 a 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 beating them with the weapons they had brought to them . , 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 first being hit with a sickle, which caused him a deep contusion and 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 to the pavement, 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 with kicks,” 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 holding objects approaching them, at which point they returned to their cars and disappeared, returning either to the link above or to their homes.
The cause of death
The death of Alki Kampanou 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 (she 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 firm detention 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 detained in various prisons throughout the country) distanced themselves from the murder of Alkis, while they are moving in the same line now.
Some of them may admit to being in the attack, but they limit their involvement to the injuries of the 19-year-old’s two friends, and no one admits 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 completion 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 the lawyers’ benches, in addition to the prosecution support team, will sit more than 25 defenders of the accused, as each of them represented by two, even three, advocates.
Several dozen are the known documents, including video footage from security cameras at the scene of the crime, which defense lawyers will request to see in order to determine the exact position of each defendant in the bloody episode.
The length of the trial is unknown and will depend on the frequency of meetings. The lawyers from the defense side, with whom APE-MPE spoke, expressed the assessment that it took at least 30 sessions, determining the end of the trial in 3 to 4 months.
Measures of EL.AS.
Ahead of the start of the trial scheduled for tomorrow, the police will take increased measures to preserve order both inside and outside the courts. It has already been announced by the Traffic Police that the 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.