The coroner's report said that the AEK fan who lost his life during a hooligan clash in the Athens neighbourhood of Nea Philadelphia on Monday night died from a single stab wound on his forearm on Thursday, confirming the initial diagnosis of doctors who examined his body in the hospital.
According to coroner Nikos Kalogrias who conducted the autopsy, Michalis Katsouris, 29, was also wounded elsewhere on his hands - apparently when he was trying to defend himself from hooligans of Dinamo Zagreb and Panathinaikos - but these wounds were not fatal.
However, the knife wound on his forearm was deep and cut through an artery and other blood vessels, resulting in the young man's death from severe bleeding. Witnesses said that Michalis had walked nearly 100 metres before collapsing, and it was too late when an ambulance arrived.
Lab investigations to identify the murderer are continuing and will use DNA collected from the jail hooligans who have been read charges. According to information, investigators focus on a small group in the deadly incidents.
Meanwhile, the first of the over 100 people charged with the violence around the AEK Athens stadium on the night of August 7 will begin appearing before three examining magistrates assigned to the case on Friday afternoon.
Each magistrate is expected to process roughly 10-12 suspects daily until Sunday, when the process is expected to be complete.
Those facing charges, who numbered 105 on Friday following further arrests, will be asked to answer to criminal charges of forming a criminal organisation, causing explosions and possessing explosives, and several misdemeanours.
The list of charges also includes the murder of 29-year-old AEK fan Michalis Katsouris but none of the suspects has been charged with the killing so far, as the perpetrator has yet to be identified.
The incident
According to police, the fight broke out more than an hour after the visiting team’s training session ended late on Monday, and the couple had left the AEK stadium in the Athens suburb of New Philadelphia under police escort.
About 100 to 120 Dinamo Zagreb fans gathered near the stadium, where AEK supporters had gathered, and fans from both sides hurled Molotov cocktails and stones.
Greek police said the 29-year-old victim, identified only as Mihalis, was transported from the stadium to an Athens hospital, where he died.
Three Greek and five Croatian fans were injured and treated while 98 people were arrested, police added.
According to the public television channel ERT, those injured included a minor who was hospitalised after being hit in the head by a stone.
UEFA deplored the appalling incidents “in the strongest possible terms” and expressed sympathy to the victim’s family.
“Following yesterday’s violence and in consultation with the local authorities, UEFA has decided that the conditions for the match between AEK Athens FC and GNK Dinamo to go ahead tonight are not met,” the football body said on Tuesday. “The match planned to be played tonight at Agia Sofia Stadium in Athens is now postponed.”
UEFA, though, said the second leg due to be played in Zagreb on August 15 would go ahead while an alternative date will be found for the postponed match – August 18 or 19 being the suggested possibility.
AEK said in a statement that its fan was killed by “professional killers, organised criminals who crossed the country and arrived in New Philadelphia from Zagreb to join forces here with Greek criminal accomplices with the sole purpose of killing”.
The Greek champions demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice and said it was “self-evident” that inaction “played a decisive role in this crime”.
Under a previous ruling by UEFA, Dinamo fans, who have a reputation for disorder, were barred from attending stadium matches.
Croatian media reports said about 200 fans had travelled to Athens, likely as tourists, despite the football ban.