Greek court designates neo-Nazi party ‘criminal organization’
A court in Greece has designated a notorious neo-Nazi and fascist party a criminal organization, setting up its leaders for heavy sentences, in one of the most important trials in the country’s political history.
The presiding judge over the case, Maria Lepenioti, said in the ruling on Wednesday that “Golden Dawn” founder and leader Nikos Michaloliakos and other senior members of the group were all guilty of running a criminal organization.
Michaloliakos and the others now face hefty jail sentences ranging from five to 15 years in prison. The sentences of the defendants were to be announced in separate hearings.
A total of 68 defendants were on trial, including former lawmakers and police officers.
Hundreds of police officers had been deployed to guard the courthouse, located a few kilometers from Athens’ city center.
Clashes took place between police and thousands of anti-fascist demonstrators outside the courthouse. Police fired teargas and sprayed water to disperse the protesters, who threw firebombs at the courthouse.
“The people want the Nazis in jail,” read a placard carried by protesters. “They are not innocent, Nazis in jail,” read a banner.
Anti-fascist and anti-racism groups, labor unions, including the public sector’s largest labor union ADEDY, and leaders, members, and supporters of political parties, had called for the gathering outside the courthouse.
The prosecutions were sparked by the late-night murder of a 34-year-old anti-fascist rapper called Pavlos Fyssas in 2013. Fyssas was chased down by a mob of Golden Dawn thugs and stabbed to death in front of a café in the western Athens suburb of Keratsini in September that year.
The murderer, a former truck driver named Yiorgos Roupakias, confessed to stabbing Fyssas to death and faces a life sentence.
Golden Dawn was also charged in relation to a series of attacks on immigrants.
Golden Dawn, which was notorious for its Nazi salutes and militaristic activities, won several seats in the Greek parliament for the first time in 2012. It held the seats until the elections in 2019, when it failed to win votes.
Lawmakers of the main opposition leftist Syriza Party on Tuesday held up letters in parliament that spelled “They are not innocent,” referring to the defendants in the trials.
Last year, there was uproar when chief prosecutor Adamantia Economou called for the acquittal of the party leaders on the basis that the existence of a criminal organization had not been established.
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