England and Manchester United defender Harry Maguire was due to face a retrial in a Greece on Wednesday almost five years on from the original hearing in 2020
Manchester United star Harry Maguire’s fight to clear his name goes on almost FIVE YEARS after the case was first heard in a Greek court.
The England defender was given a 21-month suspended sentence for assaulting a police officer in August, 2020 following an incident outside a bar on the island of Mykonos. But he immediately appealed against the guilty verdict and was hoping to be cleared of any wrongdoing at the retrial on Syros on Wednesday (March 12).
He was not in court and was represented by his Greek lawyer Alexis Anagnostakis, who wanted the three judges to consider new evidence. Under Greek law, the authorities have eight years after the incident to deal with any appeal in a criminal case.
Maguire does not have a criminal record as his original conviction was ‘nullified’. He insists he is innocent.
The defender was originally found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery, violence against public employees and insult. His brother Joe, 33, and pal Christopher Sharman, 34, were accused of brawling with rival fans and police outside a nightclub.
Joe Maguire and Sharman got a 13-month suspended sentence. All three denied the charges.
Standing before the judges, Harry’s defence lawyer Alexis Anagnostakis, said today: “It is impermissible that my client has been denied the fundamental right, as set out by Greek and EU law, to understand the case file in his own language, in this case English.”
When the panel of judges agreed, it was decided that the hearing be postponed until October 8, giving court-appointed interpreters six months to translate the case file. The English star’s team said it was essential the original indictment be translated as the higher appeals court judges were hearing the case “from scratch”.
It will deliver a decision based on the case file of charges and verdict already reached. “To do otherwise would be a violation of this trial,” Anagnostakis said.
A source close to the star said: “Harry is frustrated this is continuing to drag on after more than five years. Whist he remains determined and confident that he will clear his name, he remains bemused his fundamental defence rights have not begun to be addressed.”
Only one of the four police officers involved in the case was ready to give evidence in court yesterday. A second officer, who has since trained as a lawyer, asked for the case to be adjourned because he was “sick with the flu.”
Before the hearing, the prosecution lawyer Ioannis Paradisis had said that all four of his clients would attend the hearing “as they want, finally, to see justice done.” He said his clients were “patient men and they have not forgotten what happened to them.”
Greek judges sitting on an Appeals Court are unable to issue a penalty that is tougher than the one already handed out by a lower court of first instance. In the best case they can drop charges altogether, rendering any verdict null and void; in the worst case they can uphold a lower tribunal’s verdict or throw out some of the charges and reduce a penalty already reached.
In an interview about the incident following his return to the UK in 2020, Maguire said: “Some people will believe me, some people won’t. But one thing I would say about Mykonos is that I have no regrets. My conscience is so clear about what happened that night.”