More than 500 years in prison for the 57 Golden Dawn defenders

Golden Dawn members at a protest in 2014 led by Nikos Michaloliakos

 More than 500 years in prison for the 57 Golden Dawn (GD) indictees, 30 of whom are expected to go to prison in the next few hours, the decision of the Athens Court of Appeals ruled today, in the most historic trial in post-war Greece.

Regarding the group of neo-Nazi party leaders who have been accused of running a criminal organization:

GD leader Nikos Michaloliakos, number 2 of this party, Ilias Kasidiaris, and the MP Georgios Germenis are sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison.

MEP Ioannis Lagos was sentenced to 13 years and 8 months in prison. 13 years and 3 months Christos Papas. For the other two GD officials, Ilias Panagiotaros received 13 years in prison and Artemis Mattheopoulos 10 years in prison.

The other 11 former deputies of this party, once part of the verbal violence in the hall of the Greek parliament, but also of the physical violence outside it, have been sentenced to 5-8 years in prison. The court sentenced the neo-Nazi Georgios Roupakias, the murderer of anti-fascist singer Pavlos Fyssas, to life imprisonment and 14 years for participating in a criminal organization.

The court also sentenced 6-8 years in prison for some of the local leaders of the GD branches, some of whom, in addition to killing Pavlos Fyssas, was also implicated in the attempted murder of a fisherman from Egypt. The penalties also include violations of the law on possession of weapons or illegal possession of weapons. The marathon hearing was adjourned to resume on Thursday, as many of the defense attorneys have requested a postponement of the execution of the sentences.

Unrepentant, after the sentencing of the leader of the neo-Nazis, Nikos Mihaloliakos stated that the court decision considers nationalism as a crime and that he is proud to be tried because of his ideas. At the same time more than 100 officers of special police groups are taking part in the operation to arrest 30 convicts, for whom there is also a special plan on how they will be distributed in Greek prisons.

Separate cells have been set up for the group of GD leaders in a part of the women's prison of Korydallos, a few meters away from the place where the remaining defendants from the far-left group, 17 November, are being held under extreme measures.