Greek court to rule in neo-Nazi party appeal trial

A GREEK appeals court today is to pronounce fresh sentences in a landmark trial over crimes committed by the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party at the height of the country’s economic crisis.

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More than 40 defendants are facing sentences of up to 15 years in prison in the appeal trial, which began in June 2022. Crimes attributed to the outfit include the savage beating of a group of Egyptian fishermen in 2012 and the murder of antifascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in 2013.

The trial prosecutor in December called on the court to uphold the original guilty verdicts against the defendants. Senior Golden Dawn cadres have always denied involvement in the attacks, which were carried out by the group's so-called “assault squads”.

But in her closing arguments, prosecutor Kyriaki Stefanatou said the party’s founder and leader Nikos Michaloliakos had “complete control and knowledge of what was happening” She called the paramilitary-style group a “true child of Nazi ideology”.