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live Golden Dawn leader’s wife before the investigators

17 June 2014 / 10:06:28  GRReporter
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The judicial investigation into the criminal activities of the extreme right Golden Dawn party continues with the interrogation of Nikos Michaloliakos’ wife and party deputy Eleni Zaroulia. She will testify in connection with the charges of involvement in, and leadership of, a criminal organization.

The interrogation of Zaroulia has been postponed, already twice, at the request of her defence. Last week, the reason was the inability of her defender to attend the hearing due to other obligations.

Today she appeared in court shortly after twelve o’clock but again did not testify. This time the reason was a new request for the withdrawal of investigators Joanna Klappa and Maria Dimitropoulou, and prosecutor Isidoros Doiakos from the investigation of Golden Dawn filed by her husband Nikos Michaloliakos.
 
The document actually 'freezes' the interrogatory procedure of the accused party members until its consideration by the competent judicial council. According to sources, in the request Michaloliakos refers to the allegations on the part of the defender of former party deputy Efstathios Boukouras, Alexis Kuoias. He said his client was pressured by the investigators to provide them with incriminating information on the other defendants in return for a more favourable attitude towards him.

Therefore, Eleni Zaroulia will appear for questioning again on 25 June. Earlier, the charge of possession of a weapon against George Germenis who gave additional evidence in the case was rebutted. Immediately afterwards, however, the Golden Dawner who is popularly known as "Kiadas" was returned to prison on charges of involvement in, and leadership of, a criminal group.

George Germenis

The investigation of Golden Dawn began after the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a member of the organization in September 2013. On 28 September, the authorities arrested several party members and leader Nikos Michaloliakos.

The investigators have included in the indictments of the Golden Dawners the murders of Pavlos Fyssas and Sahdzhat Luckmann, the assassination attempts against members of the communist trade union PAME, the attacks in the social spaces "Antipnia" in Petralona neighbourhood and "Sinergio" in Ilioupoli and other similar acts.

Nikos Kouzilos

Last week another party member, Nikos Kouzilos, was taken into custody on the same charges. Dimitris Koukoutsis, a deputy of Messinia area, testified some days after him and the measures imposed on him include house arrest, 24-hour surveillance and a ban on leaving the country. The only permission regarding his house arrest is his transportation to the parliament to fulfil his obligations as a member and to the hospitals that he visits in connection with his health problems.

Dimitris Koukoutsis

A ban on leaving Greece, appearing at the police station once a month and a ban on participating in all events organized by Golden Dawn with the exception of his presence in parliament are the measures imposed on deputy Michalis Arvanitis who is also accused of involvement in, and leadership of, a criminal organization. During the interrogation, he read a short text and firmly refused to answer the questions of the investigator.

Michalis Arvanitis

Meanwhile, already independent deputy Chrisovalandis Alexopoulos was released, without the imposition of restrictive measures. His questioning took place yesterday and lasted more than five hours.

According to sources, the decision of the judicial authorities is justified by the consideration that since he has left the criminal organization, there are no longer preconditions for new criminal activities on his part.

Reliable sources claim that Alexopoulos told the investigators that as soon as he left Golden Dawn he began to receive threats to his life, his child’s life and to his brother's family. He pointed out that the people who threatened him are Golden Dawn members from the region of Larissa, which is his constituency.

Chrisovalandis Alexopoulos

Alexopoulos said that Golden Dawn had a "secret plan" since a few people and only those who were closest to leader Nikos Michaloliakos knew about the crimes described in the indictment. Asked whether he knew about the Nazi salute, he told the investigators that these things are illogical, and that he knew nothing about the party events at which the suable actions had taken place.

At present, a total of seven members of Golden Dawn are in custody on charges of involvement in, and leadership of, a criminal organization, as follows: Nikos Michaloliakos, Christos Pappas, Yiannis Lagos, George Germenis, Panagiotis Iliopoulos, Nikos Kouzilos and Efstathios Boukouras.

Tags: Crime newsGolden DawnCriminal investigationTestimonyEleni ZarouliaNikos Michaloliakos
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