Meeting under PM on fan violence – Measures being considered

The government is promoting new initiatives to deal with violence in sports, after the murder of 19-year-old Alkis in Thessaloniki that shocked the nation.

The phenomenon of fan violence will be put on the table at a meeting in Maximos Mansion, under the Prime Minister with the participation of Deputy Minister of Sports Lefteris Avgenakis and the co-responsible Ministers of Citizen Protection, Takis Theodorikakos and Justice, Costas Tsiaras.

The meeting will examine the implementation of the existing institutional framework and the possibilities of interventions where deemed necessary.

The intention of the government is to start a dialogue with all stakeholders, ie sports teams, players and organized fans, with the ultimate goal of consolidating the sector, after the elimination of malicious elements from stadiums and sports venues.

Who comes into focus

The focus is on locating all the illegal fan clubs and closing them down, while controlling those that operate legally. According to the law of 2019, the teams are responsible for the Fan Clubs and the organized movements of the fans, so that there is security and a clear system of accountability in case of incidents. Also, a register is kept at the General Secretariat of Sports with those in charge of their operation.

The Ministry of Citizen Protection is the one that will undertake the exhaustive controls of the operation of the hundreds of Fan Clubs throughout Greece, for the strict observance of what is provided by the legislation, imposing the strictest sanctions where the slightest violation is found. In the last few days, Greek Police has launched a series of operations with similar results.

Interventions

The revised Penal Code, which includes two anti-violence laws passed in the last two years, creates the new framework for dealing with sports-related crimes.

Specifically:

With Law 4639/2019, in November 2019:

• The Police were given the opportunity to carry out sampling checks on ticket holders upon their arrival at the sports facilities

• The possibility of collecting, processing and utilizing, in the context of criminal proceedings, the material and data recorded by any technical means handled by a police officer has been established.

• The local and temporal limits of the application of the criminal provisions for acts of sports violence that have a purely fan motive and take place in a time and place not related to a sporting event (eg “dating” of fans, attacks on associations, etc.) have been extended.

With Law 4809/2021, in June 2021:

• The measure of immediate prosecution has returned, ie the ban on the suspension and conversion of custodial sentences imposed by criminal courts for crimes related to sporting violence. When the measure was introduced in sports 15 years ago, the incidence of violence in the professional league was reduced by 80%, while ticket sales had increased significantly.

• The organized movements of the fans have been regulated. The teams have the supervision and control of the movements of their Fan Clubs, so that there is security and a clear system of accountability in case of incidents.