A key witness at the trial over the fatal injury of a policeman during fan violence outside a Piraeus volleyball match recanted his original testimony Wednesday, according to state ERT television, prompting the prosecutor to demand his arrest for perjury.
The witness – an Olympiakos fan – had testified to police after the December 2023 incident, identifying 13 people for alleged participation in the violence.
But on Wednesday, ERT said, he told the court that he had been pressured by police to make the identifications, and had not been in a position to see anyone involved in the clashes outside the arena.
Nearly 150 Olympiakos fans and officials, including the football club chairman, are on trial in a special court room in the Korydallos Prison in connection with the fatal injury of riot police officer Giorgos Lyngeridis. The 31-year-old was hit in the thigh by a marine flare fired from a gun, and died in hospital nearly three weeks later.
An 18-year-old man has been convicted of firing the gun and is serving a life sentence in prison.
