Court throws book at youth for police officer’s death

A court in the port city of Piraeus on Wednesday convicted a 19-year-old man of murder and gave him the maximum sentence under Greek law, over the death of a police officer during clashes with hooligans in December 2023, rejecting an appeal by his defense team for leniency because of his youth. 

Sentencing the young man to 25 years and an additional 19 years for other crimes related to the incident, the court upheld the recommendations of the prosecutor in the case, who had argued that the defendant was acting alone and with full knowledge of the danger involved when he launched a naval flare at a group of police officers during a riot on the sidelines of a volleyball game in the Piraeus suburb of Renti. The flare hit officer Giorgos Lyggeridis, 31, who died a week later of his injuries.

The verdict against the 19-year-old passed with a vote of six to one by the court.