A landmark trial has begun in Greece, involving Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest football club chairman Evangelos Marinakis and 142 football fans, in what authorities are calling the nation’s most significant crackdown on sports-related violence.

The proceedings, which commenced on Wednesday, see defendants facing charges of participating in a criminal organisation and causing life-threatening explosions at sporting events.

Seven of the accused are alleged leaders of the group, with all defendants denying any wrongdoing.

Marinakis, a shipping and media tycoon who also owns English Premier League club Nottingham Forest, and another four board members are accused of supporting the alleged criminal group from 2019-2024 and instigating violence due to a 2023 statement. They have dismissed the misdemeanour charges as groundless.

Marinakis was not present in the packed courtroom at Athens’ high-security Korydallos prison on Wednesday and was represented by his lawyer. Masked police officers guarded a few defendants still in detention.

Evangelos Marinakis, Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest owner looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg match between Olympiacos FC and Arsenal FC at Karaiskakis Stadium on February 20, 2020 in Piraeus, Greece. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)Richard Heathcote (Getty)

More than 210 people will testify before the three-member bench during the trial, which lawyers estimate could last years. The court adjourned for November 25 after the presiding judge read out the names of the defendants and witnesses.

Violence has plagued sport in Greece in recent years. Hardcore supporters, following the same club across different sports, frequently clash with police outside stadiums and with rival fans in arranged street brawls. Hooliganism is also a major concern for European soccer governing body UEFA.

The probe was launched after the 2023 fatal injury of 31-year-old riot police officer George Lyngeridis in clashes outside a women’s volleyball match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, a normally low-risk game.

The fans were arrested in 2024.

“This is a landmark trial,“ said Vaso Pantazi who represents one of the defendants, adding that her client and others “were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The pre-trial probe found that before the volleyball match, some of the fans moved a bag of flares and makeshift explosives from a storage room at their soccer stadium to the venue. Lyngeridis was hit by a flare during the clashes and died from his injuries weeks later.

In a separate trial in May, a Greek court convicted a 20-year-old Olympiacos fan of manslaughter over his death.

It was Greece’s third fatality in sports violence in 2022-2023 and prompted the top court prosecutor to urge a clampdown on criminal gangs linked with sports.

“A fair trial. Yes. That’s what we want. A fair trial, for everyone to stand up to their responsibilities,” Sakis Lyngeridis, the police officer’s father, told reporters outside the court.