Three remanded in Kallithea teen stabbing as conflicting knife claims emerge

Court decision on June 29

Three youths were remanded in custody after appearing before an investigating magistrate and prosecutor, while three others were released with restrictive conditions. The 17-year-old who had confessed to the stabbing was deemed a flight risk and a danger to public safety, and the court extended the same treatment to two co-defendants who denied involvement in the fatal clash. The rulings followed a day of testimony in which the six detainees, transferred to the former Evelpidon court complex shortly before 9 a.m., gave their versions of the events of the previous Wednesday evening.

The fatal clash

According to police, a verbal altercation among three groups of young people escalated into a full-scale brawl on the night of June 24, 2026. Participants attacked one another with knives, sticks and stones. During the melee, the 15-year-old victim was stabbed and died from his injuries. Authorities have identified 17 individuals in total, and an additional 18 parents of minors are charged with neglect of supervision. The investigation was handled by the Sub-Directorate for Combating Organized Sports Violence, which classified the incident as having a fan-related background, though several defendants denied any premeditated or hooligan motive.

Conflicting accounts of the knife

The central dispute revolves around who brought the weapon. An 18-year-old friend of the victim testified that he saw the 17-year-old perpetrator holding the knife.

I shouted to the victim, who was chasing the perpetrator, that the 18-year-old has a knife, to turn back. The victim caught up with him at 5 meters. I didn't make it in time; I saw the victim fall down in blood and I started calling for help.

The 17-year-old confessed that he stabbed the victim but claimed it was an accident after the victim attacked him first. He told police he had grabbed the knife to defend himself.

I grabbed it before he grabbed it again to protect myself, I stood up, stretched my hand with the knife to scare him … I took a step forward and he took one, with the result that the knife made contact and I wounded him somewhere high on the abdomen. I didn't want to injure him, I thought that by extending my hand with the knife I would frighten him and he would leave.

A second 18-year-old defendant stated he was present only at an earlier clash and withdrew before the fatal episode.

The clashes were two. At the first clash I was there, but at the second, where the tragic incident happened, I was not present. In the first, I was also attacked. I withdrew and after that I had no involvement. I have no visual image of the second clash and I learned about the incident later.

Charges and the sports violence law

The defendants face, depending on their role, charges of intentional homicide, participation in a clash involving weapon use that resulted in death, dangerous bodily harm committed jointly and repeatedly, and illegal weapon possession and use. Because the events are classified under the sports law (given a fan-related background), the penalties are aggravated. Alongside the seven arrested youths, 18 parents have been charged with failure to supervise their minor children. Defendants argued the brawl was not pre-planned and had no organized fan character, but police maintain that prior differences and fan rivalries sparked the violence.

Next steps

The seventh arrested individual, who remained hospitalized under guard, is expected to appear before the juvenile investigator on Tuesday, June 30, to request a deadline before giving his statement. No further arrests have been announced, but the case file lists 17 identified persons, leaving open the possibility of additional proceedings.