Greece's far right Golden Dawn leaders face imminent jail after court ruling

The leaders of the Greek far-right movement Golden Dawn faced imminent arrest on Thursday after a court refused to suspend their jail terms for running a criminal gang linked to hate crimes during Greece's financial crisis. Its anti-austerity and anti-immigrant agenda made Golden Dawn Greece’s third-most popular party at the peak of the country’s worst financial crisis since World War II.


Reuters | Updated: 22-10-2020 18:21 IST | Created: 22-10-2020 18:21 IST
Greece's far right Golden Dawn leaders face imminent jail after court ruling

The leaders of the Greek far-right movement Golden Dawn faced imminent arrest on Thursday after a court refused to suspend their jail terms for running a criminal gang linked to hate crimes during Greece's financial crisis. Six of its former lawmakers, including founder Nikos Mihaloliakos, were sentenced to 13 years in prison on Oct. 14. A police source said arrests were imminent. Golden Dawn entered parliament in 2012 at the peak of the crisis on a fiercely anti-immigrant platform, seizing on public anger over painful austerity measures and at the political establishment. But the killing of a leftwing musician by a party supporter in 2013 sparked nationwide protests and prompted a government-led crackdown during which Mihaloliakos and more than a dozen other party members were arrested and charged with founding and participating in a criminal group. Mihaloliakos appeared defiant in a brief statement to reporters gathered outside his home. He said he was being targeted by a "dirty junta" of politicians and media.

"I am proud, I am being taken to jail for my ideas," he said, before striding back into his apartment block. Some supporters present, and members of his family, applauded. Its anti-austerity and anti-immigrant agenda made Golden Dawn Greece's third-most popular party at the peak of the country's worst financial crisis since World War II. It lost its parliamentary seats in an election last year.

"We are waiting for the court to send us the relevant documents and arrests will follow within the day," the police source said. Most of those convicted have filed appeals. Even though the jail terms were announced on Oct 14, it is legal practice in Greece to hear defence arguments for mitigation post-conviction, as well as applications for a suspension of jail terms if appeals are lodged.

One of the defendants brought in his mother to testify on his behalf. Ilias Kasidiaris, the party's former spokesman, turned himself in, and compared the conviction to the fate which had befallen Greek heroes, notably Athenian general and politician Themistocles. "Those who are fighting honourably for the sake of Greece - from ancient times until today - they have been jailed, exiled, murdered", he said, referring to Themistocles and Theodoros Kolokotronis, another figure revered in Greece.

Possibly one of his more memorable appearances was throwing a tantrum on TV, slapping a female member of parliament and throwing a glass of water at another in 2012.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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