Greek police eye DNA on stabbing victim’s clothing; recovered objects, 2 knives taken from Dinamo Zagreb hooligans

Greek authorities have reportedly isolated foreign DNA on the clothes of an ill-fated Athens man, 29, who was stabbed to death last week outside the AEK FC stadium, during a murderous hooligan attack by scores of Dinamo Zagreb “ultras” and local supporters.

The attack and murder of Michalis Katsouris shocked Greece, given that a convoy carrying the Croatian hooligans traveled through half of Greece, under police surveillance most of the time, before reaching the Nea Philadelphia district in northwest Athens on the evening of Aug. 7.

Isolating DNA raises hopes that Greek police will identify the assailant or assailants of Katsouris’ stabbing, given that some 105 people have been remanded to custody in the explosive case on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges.

Greek authorities are also pinning their hopes on identifying perpetrators of the violence from roughly 60 objects (mostly clubs, sticks, rocks etc.) collected around the perimeter of the AEK Athens home field. Among the other recovered objects are also two folding knives, one allegedly belonging to a sole Albanian national among the arrested individuals, and another belonging to a Croatian. The former is a resident of Athens, while the latter traveled with the group of mostly 2o-something Croatian hooligans.

Meanwhile, according to reports in the Athens newspapers “Ta Nea” and “Vima”, 35 of the arrested Croatian nationals had again traveled to the Greek capital in November 2015 with the same purpose, namely, to take part in a football hooligan “rumble” pitting them against Serbian “ultras” and local hooligans. In fact, a handful of Croat nationals had been arrested at Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport after scuffles with rival Serbian fans.