Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has praised the decision of the Athens Court of Appeals to declare Golden Dawn a criminal organization.
Mitsotakis says that as Prime Minister of Greece he should be reserved, but as a Greek citizen he can not hide his satisfaction for recognizing the criminal character of the neo-fascist party.
He also recalls that the leading party, New Democracy, did not cooperate and has always fought the attitude and ideas of the "Golden Dawn".
According to him, today democracy won in Greece and racism, intolerance and violence in the country must still be fought.
"With today's decision of the three-member Criminal Court of Appeal for the Golden Dawn action, a traumatic cycle of the country's public life closes. Its political dimension, fortunately, has been judged by the victory of the Republic, which expelled the Nazi formation from parliament. Now, the independent judiciary is giving its answer.
As Prime Minister, I consciously refrain from commenting on court decisions. However, as a Greek citizen, I share in the universal pleasure of recognizing its criminal character. And I am proud of the unwavering stance of our party to set as a strategic goal the political and social marginalization of Golden Dawn.
Because the New Democracy has always, steadily and everywhere fought fascism. Has denounced the populism that elevated this party to the squares of blind hatred and violence. Not for a moment did we cooperate with his representatives, either in the political elections or in the parliamentary elections. By an order we approved, we exempted them from state funds. We even refused to legitimize their presence even in simple, ceremonial events.
History has written that in the days of New Democracy, the way was opened for the Golden Dawn trial. In its time, a process that lasted for four and a half years was also been facilitated and accelerated. So we can make Justice make its decisions today.