The police chief Piraeus is being called upon to provide convincing answers to the testimonies that place him at the scene on the fateful night of the murder of Lyggeridis as having helped cover up for the perpetrators.
The Shadowy Role
It is time to shed light on the shadowy role of the then-Piraeus Police Chief, Brigadier General Konstantinos Schismenos, as described by numerous witnesses who testified at the trial for the murder of police officer Giorgos Lyggeridis—has finally arrived!
Over the last two days of the week the Piraeus Police Chief is summoned before the Three-Member Court of Appeals for Felonies to provide explanations and convincing answers regarding the testimonies that place him at the “Melina Merkouri” stadium as having done everything in his power to cover up for the perpetrators and provide a protective umbrella for the criminals, rather than ensuring the safe conduct of the match and preventing the incidents, as his duty required!
Not just one or two police officers and fans have described the attitude and behavior of the Piraeus police chief in the court in the harshest terms, making clear accusations that he “harbored criminals.”
Strong and compelling evidence of “criminal negligence in the performance of his duties”, among other testimonies, were the statements of two police officers.
Testifying, the squad leader who was stationed just outside the stadium when the riots began noted, regarding the police chief: “When I saw the organized fans leaving the stands and heading outside while wearing hoods, I went and told him I wanted to go outside with my squad because I was afraid there would be riots, and he told me no. When the stands were completely empty and I could hear shouting outside, I told him again, and he refused a second time. But when I heard over the radio about the disturbances and the injury, I took my squad and ran without asking him.”
Chairman: Why didn’t you ask for permission again? Were you afraid he would refuse again?
Witness: I considered it my duty to help my colleagues…
Presiding Judge: Where was the police chief? Inside the stadium?
Witness: No, in the locker room.
The second testimony clearly demonstrates the “unlawful role” of the police chief and came from the Operations Center coordinator, who had relayed via radio the order from the chief of GADA to close the stadium gates and not let anyone out without being checked, except for the elderly, women, and children—and then received the following response from his colleagues who were on the scene: “At that moment, my colleagues told me that the police chief was causing them problems and forbidding them from checking the cars and convoys leaving the stadium.”
According to the same testimony, which has been confirmed during the trial to date by other witnesses as well: “On the orders of the Piraeus police chief—since he was in overall command that night— several people wearing Olympiacos uniforms were ‘smuggled out,’ and he told us they were team staff and players. He told us that. We didn’t know if there were others among them since he wouldn’t let us check them.”
According to the same testimonies, it has not yet been clarified what his role was and what he did while clothes were being burned in the stadium restrooms, why he was not wearing a uniform and was in civilian clothes—even though a uniform is mandatory while on duty—why he wrote the Attica Police Chief’s orders on the soles of his shoes, because he positioned Giorgos Lyggeridis’s squad far from the stadium and in a different location than usual, even though he was responsible for deploying the squads.
These and many others are the questions that the Piraeus Police Chief will be called upon to answer in court this coming Thursday and Friday, that is, over two consecutive days, the Piraeus police chief, as the presiding judge, along with all other key figures in the trial, consider his testimony to be of decisive importance in strengthening or weakening the charge of criminal organization.
His testimony will not be included in the trial transcript, which already consist of excerpts from previous witness statements, and the presiding prosecutor has proposed that they be forwarded to the Piraeus Prosecutor’s Officefor evaluation regarding the police chief’s criminal liability. The court’s decision will be rendered after his testimony is concluded.
