The second-instance trial for the high-profile case of the murder of 19-year-old Alkis Kampanos, who fell victim to senseless fan violence in February 2022 in the Harilaou area of Thessaloniki, has been postponed to November 3, 2025.

The Thessaloniki Mixed Jury Court of Appeals – by majority decision – accepted two adjournment requests submitted by defense attorneys for two of the 12 defendants, all of whom had been convicted in the first trial. Out of the total defendants, who are being held in various prisons across the country, eight were transported to the Thessaloniki court today, while the remaining defendants opted not to be transferred for various reasons.

In the first trial, seven of the defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment along with additional lengthy prison terms as co-perpetrators in the murder with probable intent, while the remaining five received temporary prison sentences as accomplices in the same act.

However, an appeal against the verdict was filed by the head of the Thessaloniki Court of Appeals Prosecutor‘s Office, Nikos Kallidis, seeking harsher sentences. Considering the verdict erroneous in converting the charge to murder with probable intent, the senior prosecutor argued that the defendants should have been convicted of murder with direct intent, as per the original charge.

Furthermore, for three of the defendants, he argued that they should not have been convicted as accomplices. Instead, one should have been convicted of moral instigation of the murder with direct intent, and the other two as co-perpetrators in the same act. The appeal does not affect two of the defendants, meaning the principle of non-aggravation of their position remains in force for them.

In addition to the murder of 19-year-old Alkis, the indictment includes acts connected to the attack against his two friends during the same bloody incident.

From early on, friends and supporters of the defendants gathered outside the courthouse, while police enforced heightened security measures.