An Athens prosecutor has ordered a preliminary examination into an altercation between newspaper publisher and football club owner Vangelis Marinakis and former government official Grigoris Dimitriadis during Sunday’s EuroLeague basketball final.
Aristidis Korias, head of the Athens First Instance Prosecutor’s Office, instructed police officers from the sports violence division to review video footage of the incident.
The prosecutor requested that authorities determine whether any ex officio offenses – crimes prosecutable without a formal complaint by an alleged victim – may have been committed.
If no such offense is established, legal proceedings could only move forward if one of the individuals involved files a formal lawsuit.
Video circulating on social media shows Marinakis, owner of Olympiakos’ football club and of Nottingham Forest FC, and Dimitriadis engaged in a heated verbal exchange from opposite sides of a barrier, while security personnel stood between them. During the confrontation, a person standing next to Marinakis appeared to throw an Olympiakos scarf toward Dimitriadis.
