Alexis Kougias breathed his last today (28/02) after a prolonged hospitalization in the ICU of a private hospital.

The well-known criminal lawyer had been transferred to the hospital about two weeks ago with a high fever.

However, his health condition worsened, and it was decided to be intubated in the early hours of Sunday (23/2).

Alexis Kougias: The Excellent Student from Petroupoli Who Became a Criminal Lawyer

He was born on January 1, 1951, in Petroupoli, Attica. He was admitted to the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and later graduated from the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Alexis Kougias grew up in Petroupoli with his brother Dimitris and their parents. His father, Christos, a former gendarme from Velo, Corinth, owned a shop, while his mother, Kalliope, a graduate of the Hellenic-French School “Saint Joseph,” took care of the family (housekeeping).

He was an excellent student, attended school in Agioi Anargyroi, and during his childhood, he worked in his father’s shop and was deeply involved in football.

At the end of his secondary school years, he moved to Kypseli to be closer to the tutoring centers in central Athens. His initial choice was to study at the National Technical University of Athens, but after attending the trial of military junta-era professors from the Law School who had sued resistance professors, he decided to pursue law.

After obtaining his law degree, he was registered with the Athens Bar Association on March 10, 1980.

Throughout his legal career, he participated in over 25,000 trials, of which around 1,000 or more were murder cases.

He handled significant cases during his legal career, including those of Evangelos Rochamis, the trial of the Satanists from Pallini, the defense of Dimitris Ntolas, the truck driver involved in the fatal accident in Tembi on April 13, 2003, which killed 21 students from Makrohori, the case supporting the accusation of Eleni Topaloudi, who was raped and murdered on Rhodes, the case of Alkis Kampanos, who was murdered by 12 football fans, and in 2008, he defended the special guard Epaminondas Korkoneas, who fatally wounded 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. In 2021, he participated in the defense of actor Dimitris Lignadis, who was accused of sexual assaults, among others.

Additionally, Alexis Kougias was involved in the issue of corruption in Greek football and in 2011 was one of the key witnesses in the case of fixed matches.

Sports Involvement

Alongside his legal career, Kougias was actively involved in sports. Initially, he played amateur football at a young age for Aris Petroupoli and Olympiakos Loutraki.

In 1973, he transferred to Iraklis Thessaloniki and was even called up to the Greek National Amateur Team, but that same year, a car accident kept him out of the field for 18 months. In 1978, he returned to Olympiakos Loutraki and later played for Pelopas Kiatos.

Additionally, in 1997 and 2004, he served as president of AEK for short periods, and over the years, he held the presidency of various clubs, including PAS Korinthos, Aris Petroupoli, G.A.S. Veria, PAS Giannina, AS Lamia, Panachaiki, and for a short time, Ionikos Nikea, as well as AO Aigaleo, where he was also general manager and legal advisor during the 1980s under the presidency of Viktor Mitropoulos.

Moreover, he served as the representative of Iraklis Thessaloniki in the Greek Football League (E.P.A.E.) and as its vice president.

At the end of 2008, he became president of the Panachaiki P.A.E. and in May 2009, he acquired the majority stake in the team from Kostas Makris.

Personal Life

He married for the first time in 1983 at the age of 32, but after two months, his wife, Tilda (Marinella), of Jewish descent, tragically died in a car accident in Kifisia, where she was burned in the vehicle.

On January 24, 2001, he married model, former Miss Greece, and TV presenter, Evi Vatidou. Their marriage lasted until October 2007.

He had two children, Christos Kougias (born March 9, 2002) and Myra Kougias (born January 20, 2005), both of whom followed the legal profession.