Agrinio, November 2006
A date indelibly engraved in the memory of Aetolia-Acarnania. Five hunters lost their lives to the gunfire of cattle farmer Dionysis Foukas in one of the most heinous crimes that ever shook the region. Today, 19 years later, the silence that blankets the villages around Agrinio proves that time has failed to heal the wound.

In the village of Lefka, where the events unfolded, residents still avoid talking about that day. “It’s a wound that hurts,” they say—a wound that haunts families, homes, and places; a shadow that fell heavily and never lifted.

Dionysis Foukas remains incarcerated, convicted of the five murders. Even when he receives prescribed permissions to leave prison, he is forbidden from returning to the village—no one would accept him. His family, as residents told protothema.gr, has lived for years burdened by shame and isolation. His father, Lysimachos Foukas, who was also involved in the horrific murders, died in prison, while his mother and sister remain withdrawn from the community—silent, as the community remains silent about what happened in November 2006.

On the other side of the tragedy, the families of the five young hunters who were unjustly lost have been plunged into darkness forever. According to residents, the brother of 17-year-old Alexis Nikolopoulos, who stayed in the village, saw his family wiped out over the years. He lived to mourn his brother, while his mother and sister, four years after Alexis’s brutal murder, committed suicide in their home by ingesting rat poison. His father died suddenly a few years later while working on a highway construction site.

In the church built in memory of the five hunters, a service was held last Sunday morning. Candles were lit, names were remembered, and those present stood in silence—against the passing of time but never forgetting.

The Tragedy

On the afternoon of November 25, 2006, a group of hunters—related to each other (the brothers Vassilis and Christos Nikolopoulos and their first cousins Lambros Andressa, Elias Pipas, and Alexis Nikolopoulos)—set out from Lefka, Agrinio, to hunt in an area outside Kalyvia. Around five in the afternoon, just before nightfall, the father of 17-year-old Alexis Nikolopoulos received a phone call from his son. “Father…” was all he managed to hear before the call was disconnected.

Though troubled, the father did not immediately begin searching. When the hunters were late returning, he decided to look for them. The area was familiar to him, so he quickly reached the spot where his relatives were hunting after finding the hound they had with them.

There, shocked, he discovered their bodies one by one. Among the reeds, very close together, they all lay dead. About a hundred yards from the others, he found his son last.

The victims had not only been wounded but shot mercilessly, showing that the killer had finished them off without mercy. The news hit the small community like a thunderbolt and quickly became a top story nationwide, with media focusing on Kalyvia.

From the moment the police were informed, specialized units such as the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) and the Homicide Department of the Attica Security mobilized alongside local police to effectively and professionally work towards a resolution.

Twelve cartridges were collected at the scene. Experienced officers deduced that the crime was related to local matters and people. They began forming a circle of suspects connected to the area.

At the murder site, police noticed a flock of sheep nearby—a major clue leading to the arrest of residents, including two cattle ranchers, a father and son.

The next day, the name of the prime suspect leaked: Dionysis Foukas, 37, a “calm and gentle” man who never hurt a fly, according to locals. Police also called in his father, 73-year-old Lysimachos Foukas. Both owned land where the murders took place and grazed sheep there.

Initially, both claimed alibis, but police found reason to suspect them. Another local rancher testified that Lysimachos and Dionysis Foukas were the last people to see the hunters alive. More damningly, a farmer said he had warned them that the hunters’ presence was scaring away their sheep and destroying the clover.

Lysimachos had a reputation as the village “bully,” known to carry a knife and be authoritarian, especially toward his son, Dionysis, who was well-liked.

On Monday, Dionysis Foukas went to Astakos, and shortly after his return, he gave statements to the media, who already knew he was the prime suspect. His arraignment was imminent.

Almost simultaneously, the gun found at the farmers’ house in Kalyvia was identified as the murder weapon.

The Confession

Father and son were questioned by special police teams from Athens assigned to the case. A few hours into interrogation, both confessed.

The shootings were triggered by the hunters’ presence on their fields and the fear caused to their sheep. Initially, the father tried to take full blame, but it was clear the son Dionysis was the main perpetrator.

At 4:45 p.m., Lysimachos and Dionysis went to the spot where they believed the hunters were. Unable to locate them, Dionysis left while his father stayed behind. Minutes later, Dionysis heard fighting and shouting. He turned back with a shotgun just as his father argued with the hunters. One hunter’s gun accidentally discharged.

Dionysis picked up the rifle and fired indiscriminately. All hunters were wounded, but Elias Pipas, who hid in the reeds, fired and slightly wounded Dionysis in the collarbone. Dionysis then killed him in cold blood.

Finally, Dionysis pursued 17-year-old Alexis Nikolopoulos, wounding him in the back before firing the coup de grâce.

Father and son were taken to court under strict security and then held in custody.

The Trial

On March 26, 2008, Lysimachos and Dionysis Foukas stood trial at the Aigio Mixed Jury Court, accused of the murder of five hunters in Kalyvia, Agrinio. The courtroom was packed with relatives and friends of the victims.

Dionysis stated he was in a “boiling state of mind” and tried to take the blame. “I had no intention of harming. My father didn’t encourage me—he was wrongly accused. I had decided to commit suicide, but lacked the courage. I want nothing less than life imprisonment.”

Statement of the Perpetrator’s Mother

When Amalia Fouka, the mother, testified, the phrase “damned beast, it’s your fault you gave birth to this beast” was heard in the room. Calmly and without looking at her husband or son, she said, “I apologize for my son. He was soft-spoken; no one expected this from him. I apologize for my husband, too. He was not a bad man, just loud and childlike.” Her calmness drew ire from relatives.

Prosecution lawyers described her as having learned her “lesson,” offering apologies without emotion and evading questions.

Regarding the afternoon of November 25, she claimed she didn’t hear gunshots because she was in the barn and was unaware of any men’s behavior. She found out only after the police arrested them. “I was afraid they had killed my Dionysis,” she said. “There are not five victims but six—my son is like a dead man in prison.”

Her daughter Aphrodite did not attend court to support her father and brother, which was much remarked upon, as she initially provided an alibi for the accused.

Dionysis Foukas’s Apology

Dionysis recounted:
“I was waiting for my father to tend the sheep when Nicholas F. warned me that hunters and a dog were scaring them. We went to the field with the gun in the car. I heard shouting—my father arguing with the hunters who insulted him. I tried to calm them, lowered my gun and warned them to stop cursing. One tried to grab the gun but failed. Shots were fired into the ground for intimidation. Then I lost control and started shooting.”

He admitted to shooting the victims and firing coup de grâce shots at Elias Pipas and Vassilis Nikolopoulos. “Two grace shots are enough for five life sentences,” he said. Afterward, he hid the bloody clothes and went to a café to watch a football match to avoid suspicion. “I had decided to kill myself. I wish I had.”

Lysimachos Foukas’s Apology

Lysimachos claimed he never handled the murder weapon or urged his son to kill. “I watched him kill the children. I yelled at him, but he didn’t listen. That night I told him I’d take the blame because I’m old and he’s young. I put the gun away, never imagining he’d become a monster.”

The prosecutor called Lysimachos “the man who loaded and directed a highly trained killing machine,” finding both father and son guilty without leniency.

Verdict

A local priest supported the Foukas family as “family men” and “church people,” but this view, along with a petition of 220 village signatures asking for clemency, angered victims’ families.

On March 28, 2008, the court sentenced Dionysis and Lysimachos Foukas to five life sentences without mitigating circumstances.

The Suicide

On March 22, 2010, tragedy struck again in Kamaroula, Agrinio. Vassilis Nikolopoulos, brother of murdered Alexis, found his mother, Katerina, and 16-year-old sister unconscious with two empty insecticide bottles and handwritten notes nearby. Both had died from poisoning.

The mother had been unable to overcome her son’s murder and had expressed her desire to die. Neighbors knew of the close bond between mother and daughter and their daily visits to Alexis’s grave.

In November 2012, 80-year-old Lysimachos Foukas applied for early release on health and age grounds, but the application was denied.

On October 25, 2014, both Foukas men appeared under strict security for their appeal trial. Testimonies from victims’ families highlighted the lasting pain and trauma, blaming Lysimachos as the dominant force behind the crime.

Dionysis admitted he was “blinded” and lost control after being fired upon, but showed little remorse. The victims’ lawyer sharply criticized him.

Final Verdict

The Agrinio Joint Jury Court of Appeal upheld the original sentence on both Dionysis and Lysimachos Foukas—five life sentences each.

They were returned to Malandrinos Prison.