Greek prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos, handling the criminal investigation of far-right Golden Dawn party, recommended to a council of judges earlier today that its current 16-member parliamentary group -as well as the two that have resigned- should be trialed on charges ranging from belonging to and running a criminal organization to weapon offenses. In his 700-page argument Dogiakos proposed that a total of 70 party members, amongst them Golden Dawn’s imprisoned leader Nikos Michaloliakos and imprisoned MPs Ilias Kasidiaris, Christos Papas, Ioannis Lagos, Giorgos Germenis, Nikos Kouzoulos, Panagiotis Iliopoulos as well as ex member Stathis Mpoukouras, should appear before the judges. 15 party members that were initially accused of criminal offenses, should be cleared, he added. According to his recommendation, every current or ex MP belonged to the criminal organization’s «hard core» that operated under the party’s cloak. Dogiakos recited all the charges being brought against Golden Dawn, underlining the murders of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas (a.k.a. Killah P) on September 2013 and Pakistani immigrant Luqman Shahzad on January 2013, as well as several individual assaults on foreign nationals and leftist activists, including the attack against PAME members in Piraeus, just a few days before Fyssas’ murder. A three-member panel of judges is expected to issue final indictments within weeks. If it upholds Dogiakos’ recommendations, Golden Dawn MPs face a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Golden Dawn enjoyed a huge boost in support during Greece’s financial crisis, winning 18 of Parliament’s 300 seats in the 2012 elections, currently being the country’s fourth most popular party. Its crackdown followed the fatal stabbing of Fyssas by Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias, who is currently denying any relation with the party. Currently, a total of 26 members -including the MPs- is behind bars. Recently, the family of Manos Kapelonis, a Golden Dawn member who was shot dead last November, said that Golden Dawn’s use of their son’s name and image is “absolutely incompatible with the nature of his beliefs and ideals and is offensive to his personality,” therefore is seeking a court injunction to ban the party from using his name or image for political purposes.
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
