Chrysochoidis sends Giannakopoulos's insulting police post to prosecutor after Kolonaki check

The police check

Officers from the Anti-Extortion Department of the Organised Crime unit stopped a company-owned car with tinted windows in Kolonaki, central Athens, during what police describe as routine targeted checks. The car carried two men and a woman. According to the police statement, the vehicle stopped only after repeated light and sound signals, and it was halted on a nearby street. One passenger held a gun licence, which the officers checked and found to be legal. Police say the officers faced insults and threats during the check, both in person and by phone through an open line. When the checks were complete and no further action was needed, the car and its occupants left.

The post and the referral

Dimitris Giannakopoulos, owner of the Panathinaikos football club, reacted on social media with a video and a post about the incident, which involved a relative of his. Kathimerini reported that his daughter was in the car, a detail the police statement does not repeat. Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis then ordered the post forwarded to the competent prosecutor. The Hellenic Police statement says the post contains insulting expressions and disparaging characterisations that damage the force's standing.

“The post contains insulting expressions and disparaging characterisations that undermine the standing of the Hellenic Police.”

The force's position

The police statement closes by framing the referral as a matter of equal treatment under the law. It was issued by the Hellenic Police headquarters, not by the prosecutor's office. The statement presents the officers' conduct as professional and calm despite the verbal abuse they say they received. Police described the car's occupants as leaving without any further action being taken against them.

“The law applies and is enforced for everyone.”

What remains open

The reporting does not say what the prosecutor will do with the referral or whether any charges will follow. Accounts differ on timing: the police statement places the check in the early hours of Sunday, 15 November, while Kathimerini dated it to the dawn of the previous day. The insults and threats are described only in police-sourced accounts, and none of the reports includes independent evidence of them. The exact content of the post beyond the police characterisation is not published in the articles.