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+---- Thread: Sunset for Golden Dawn (Greek fascists) (/thread-7016.html)
Sunset for Golden Dawn (Greek fascists) - pbrower2a - 10-07-2020
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek court ruled on Wednesday that the far-right Golden Dawn party was operating as a criminal organization, delivering landmark guilty verdicts following a politically charged five-year trial against dozens of defendants.
The court ruled that seven of the 18 former lawmakers, including Nikos Michaloliakos, the head of the party which had become Greece’s third largest during the country’s financial crisis, were guilty of leading a criminal organization. The others were found guilty of participating in a criminal organization.
As news of the guilty verdicts broke, cheers and celebrations erupted among the crowd of at least 20,000 people gathered in an anti-fascist rally outside the Athens courthouse. A small group threw Molotovs and stones, with police responding with tear gas and water cannon.
The marathon trial had been assessing four cases rolled into one: the 2013 fatal stabbing of Greek rap singer Pavlos Fyssas, physical attacks on Egyptian fishermen in 2012 and on left-wing activists in 2013, and whether Golden Dawn was operating as a criminal organization.
The 68 defendants included the 18 former lawmakers from the party that was founded in the 1980s as a neo-Nazi organization and rose in prominence during the country’s decade-long financial crisis.
“It feels like a day of victory in Greece,” said Antonis Fourlis, editor-in-chief of HuffPost Greece. “It’s a great relief for all Greeks that after all the country has gone through with the economic crisis and now COVID-19, that there is still hope.”
Fourlis said ahead of the decision the leaders of Greece’s political parties all issued statements condemning Golden Dawn. “It’s a step forward for the political system. All political parties except a small far-right group are hailing the judgment, which sends Golden Dawn out of the political spectrum as criminals.”
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the verdict “ends a traumatic cycle” in the country’s public life.“Its political dimension has, fortunately, been judged by the victory of democracy, which expelled the Nazi formation from Parliament (in elections),” he said. “Now, the independent judiciary is giving its own answer.”
The three-member panel of judges also found Giorgos Roupakias guilty of the murder of Fyssas, prompting applause inside the courtroom and among the crowd outside. Roupakias had been accused of being a party supporter who delivered the fatal stab wounds to Fyssas. Another 15 defendants — none of them former lawmakers — were convicted as accomplices.
“The ruling demonstrates that they were just a gang of knife-wielding thugs who took their orders from the top,” said Thanassis Kambayiannis, one of the lawyers representing the fishermen.
After the verdicts, defense lawyers began summations ahead of sentencing, a process that could last several days. Those convicted of leading a criminal organization face up to 15 years in prison, while the others face up to 10 years. Roupakias faces a life sentence.
“Today marks a huge victory for justice and respect for Greece and the entire world,” Eva Cosse, Greece researcher at Human Rights Watch, told The Assoicated Press. “It sends a strong message that hate crimes are not and should not be tolerated in a democratic society.”
Excerpted.
RE: Sunset for Golden Dawn (Greek fascists) - Isoko - 10-16-2020
The Golden Dawn is very much an extremist party that would shock and horror the average populist politician in Europe. However this is Greece. Despite being part of the West, it is still very much a right wing country. It is very patriotic. Even the youth, who are more tolerant, still remain heavily patriotic, offering to fight in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
So overall it is no surprise The Golden Dawn did well in Greece. It is an end of open fascism for Greece but I can tell you something - the Greek people will eventually vote for a very right wing populist party when that comes on the scene. It's Greece.
RE: Sunset for Golden Dawn (Greek fascists) - Warren Dew - 10-16-2020
(10-16-2020, 02:23 AM)Isoko Wrote: I can tell you something - the Greek people will eventually vote for a very right wing populist party when that comes on the scene. It's Greece.
If and when they do, the precedent will have been set for suppressing opposition parties through government force. That's not good for democracy.
RE: Sunset for Golden Dawn (Greek fascists) - pbrower2a - 10-16-2020
(10-16-2020, 09:03 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(10-16-2020, 02:23 AM)Isoko Wrote: I can tell you something - the Greek people will eventually vote for a very right wing populist party when that comes on the scene. It's Greece.
If and when they do, the precedent will have been set for suppressing opposition parties through government force. That's not good for democracy.
The German Federal Republic has outlawed practically every manifestation of the Nazi Party from the formation of the current Republic in 1948.
Political thuggery is not an expression of political freedom.