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Three Far-Right Lawmakers Released in Greece Case Against Greek Far-Right Party Draws Critics
(about 3 hours later)
ATHENS — Three prominent lawmakers of the ultraright Golden Dawn political party arrested last Saturday on charges of belonging to a criminal organization were released pending trial on Wednesday, a surprising decision that blunted the impact of a government crackdown on the party. NIKAIA, Greece — For over a year, 30 Kaisareias Street bustled with activity. Burly, black-clad members of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party converted part of the nondescript white building into a headquarters, holding frequent meetings and fanning out for military-style neighborhood patrols armed with batons and heavy poles wrapped in the Greek flag.
A fourth member of the neo-fascist party remained in custody. Then, last week, the group disappeared overnight. A regular in the office, Giorgos Roupakias, was accused of killing an anti-fascist activist in a crime that shocked the nation, and the government began an effort to “eradicate” the group, as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras put it.
After more than 17 hours of testimony before a magistrate, the party’s spokesman, Ilias Kasidiaris, and two other members of Parliament, Ilias Panagiotaros and Nikos Michos, were freed with orders not to leave the country. Kasidiaris was required to post a 50,000 euros in bail, about $67,000. Striding out of the capital’s court complex, Mr. Kasidiaris called reporters “bums” and pushed photographers out of his way. But already, serious questions have been raised about the planning and effectiveness of the crackdown, and whether it may actually boomerang against the government and end up generating sympathy for Golden Dawn, one of Europe’s most violent far-right groups.
“We’re going to have some fun now,” Mr. Michos told journalists later. “We’ll see this through to the end. Only bullets can stop us.” “If it is not handled properly, you could get a kind of a bounce back of Golden Dawn,” said George Katrougalos, a constitutional law professor at the Democritus University of Thrace. “If they appear to be victims of the establishment, that may broaden their appeal.”
In his testimony, which ran late into Tuesday night, Mr. Kasidiaris claimed that Golden Dawn members were the victims of a politically motivated persecution aimed at depriving the party of a strong showing in local elections in Greece next spring, when he is planning to run for mayor of Athens. Questions are already being raised about the legality, even constitutionality, of the government’s methods.
Mr. Kasidiaris also faces trial on charges that he assaulted two leftist members of Parliament, both women, during a live television debate in June 2012, shortly before the general elections that secured his party 18 seats in Greece’s 300-member Parliament. No trial date has been set. On Wednesday, in a surprise decision, a magistrate ordered three prominent Golden Dawn lawmakers, among 35 people associated with the party who were arrested in a sweep last Saturday, to be released pending trial. After more than 17 hours of testimony, one of the men, the party’s spokesman, Ilias Kasidiaris, strode from the court, called reporters “bums” and pushed photographers out of his way.
A fourth Golden Dawn official, Yannis Lagos, was remanded to custody after judicial authorities said that evidence linked him to criminal activities attributed to the party, including murders, attempted murders and blackmail. On Tuesday, the police said Lagos telephoned the leader of the party, Nikos Michaloliakos, half an hour after the fatal stabbing on Sept. 18 of a leftist hip-hop artist, Pavlos Fyssas, 34, by a man who said he was a supporter of Golden Dawn. Secret police documents leaked to the Greek press in recent days were described as tieing Mr. Lagos to protection and prostitution rackets, blackmail and money laundering. However, a fourth Golden Dawn lawmaker, Yannis Lagos, was remanded to custody after the judicial authorities deemed that evidence linking him to criminal activities — including murder, attempted murder and blackmail — was strong.
Mr. Michaloliakos, who served prison time for possession of explosives in his youth, was to face a magistrate on Wednesday afternoon while a sixth Golden Dawn parliamentarian arrested over the weekend, Christos Pappas, was to appear in court on Thursday. The legal wrangling pointed to the rising conviction of the government and many others here that Golden Dawn has been run less as a political party than as a mafia. But it also underlined concerns that the government’s case might be riddled with legal holes and procedural missteps in the investigation. Golden Dawn’s supporters say the government is basing its case against party members in large part on wiretaps that lacked the required judicial approval.
Police raids on the homes of Mr. Michaloliakos and Mr. Pappas have turned up unlicensed guns and ammunition as well as a wide range of Nazi paraphernalia. Mr. Samaras has made it clear that he sees no place for Golden Dawn in the Greek political system. “We must do it within the context of our democratic Constitution,” he said in a speech in New York this week. “But we have to go all the way and do whatever it takes.”
An internal affairs investigation by the Greek police into suspected links between Golden Dawn and the force has led to the detention of 10 officers in the past week, many found to have illegal weapons in their homes. Last month, 11 officers were temporarily suspended and two resigned. Doing so will not be easy. Because the government cannot ban political parties, it is trying to undermine the group by dismantling its leadership and cutting its financing. Prosecutors are charging members with participating in a criminal organization, a move that would effectively outlaw the group.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Monday expressed his resolve to crack down on Golden Dawn, which has soared in popularity since entering Greece’s Parliament in June 2012 on a vehemently anti-immigrant platform. “We are dedicated to completely eradicating such a shame,” Mr. Samaras said at a reception sponsored by the American Jewish Committee in New York. In court testimony, the Golden Dawn spokesman, Mr. Kasidiaris, said his group was the victim of a politically motivated persecution aimed at discrediting the party before local elections next spring. He and the others denied the government’s accusations.
Golden Dawn members and supporters have been linked to a rise in violent attacks on immigrants over the past year, but it was last month’s killing of Mr. Fyssas by a man identified as Giorgos Roupakias that prompted a crackdown by authorities. Although the investigation and arrests have cost the party some public support, opinions polls indicate that Golden Dawn remains the third most popular party in Greece, raising questions about how much the authorities can limit its political activities. Golden Dawn’s popularity has slipped since Mr. Roupakias admitted to the killing of the activist, Pavlos Fyssas, a Greek rapper whose lyrics inveighed against rightist extremism. But questions have swirled around why the government is only now pursuing an organization whose violence and Nazi ideology have been well documented.
Government officials submitted legislation to Parliament this week to stop state financing for the party. A separate bill providing for stricter penalties for racially motivated crimes is to be unveiled in coming days, officials said. Included in the 31 charges are cases that have been pending for years, involving murder, extortion and money laundering — none of which were previously pursued by Mr. Samaras’s government. The Greek ombudsman cited nearly 300 cases of recent racist violence involving Golden Dawn members that also received no judicial attention.
“It is obvious that there was an inertia toward Golden Dawn by the state and other authorities until now,” Mr. Katrougalos, the law professor, said.
In the working-class neighborhood of Keratsini, where the killing took place, anti-fascist graffiti was scrawled on buildings near banners calling for rallies against Golden Dawn. Rap music thumped from cars, and groups of young people packed cafes on Tsaldari Street, where Mr. Fyssas was stabbed.
On the spot where he died, a makeshift shrine was erected with candles, red roses and a white cross. An anarchist symbol — the letter “A” enclosed in a circle — was spray painted on a doorway next to several scrawled homages, including one that read: “Safe travels my brother. Vengeance has already begun.”
At the Ouzo cafe in Nikaia, near the group’s shuttered offices, people were elated that Golden Dawn had scattered. “It’s already better,” said Giorgos, 61, a retiree who would give only his first name. “These people were like thugs, with their flags and poles, wearing their black shirts and army pants and boots. If you saw them up close, you’d be scared.”
He added that Mr. Roupakias was known in the neighborhood for attending Golden Dawn meetings, and had run the cafe in the group’s offices.
Many here were angered that Golden Dawn had come to the Keratsini neighborhood from Nikaia. “This is a working-class area that resisted the Nazis, who rounded up people and shot them,” said another retiree, Stavros, 56, as he sipped coffee. “The mass grave is still there. So it’s a disgrace that this neighborhood was then occupied by fascists.”
But no one thought Golden Dawn or the grievances that vaulted it to power would be easily overcome.
“They cut the head of Golden Dawn,” said Artemis Sarafoglou, 21, a resident who frequently encountered Golden Dawn members patrolling the streets. “But this may be like the Hydra, where something new can grow in its place.” He said that several of his friends had voted for Golden Dawn, helping it win 18 seats in Parliament last year, and that their support for the group had not wavered.
“The reasons why Golden Dawn came to power have not been erased,” Mr. Sarafoglou said, looking at a party banner that still fluttered from a balcony. “It’s truly possible that they could rise again.”
In Keratsini, Eleni Batziopoulou, 24, a philosophy student, said that she and her friends had no real hope that Golden Dawn would become truly enfeebled. Instead, the clampdown raised a more profound question.
“Is this the end of Golden Dawn, or is it really just the beginning?” she asked. “I want to believe it’s the end, because I want to have hope in the future. But if it’s not, then it’s the start of a wave of trouble.”