In a letter to the prosecutor’s office of the Supreme Court, Minister of Public Order Nikos Dendias has requested that, in compliance with the anti-terrorism law, Golden Dawn should be declared a criminal organization and all attacks which involved its members should be considered.
He has attached to his letter the pre-trial files of 32 such cases which, according to the police, are permanent actions of the criminal organization. For this reason, the Minister insists on considering them in the light of Article 187 of the Penal Code which contains the definition of forming a criminal organization and the appropriate penalties. Thus, the actions of the members of Golden Dawn which so far have been classified as punishable offences will automatically become criminal offences and this will allow the arrest of the perpetrators of the crimes and their abettors.
Some of the attacks, 13 of which were carried out in Attica and 19 in the rest of Greece, involved members of Golden Dawn and the relevant procedure stipulated in the Constitution will be enforced for them. According to the Minister, thus "legal persecution will be initiated against all of them which will eliminate the party." The government is planning to break up the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn in practice in this way, since the Greek Constitution does not provide for declaring a political party illegal.
According to sources from the Ministry, a large number of attacks and incidents of violence have been registered recently in various regions of Greece, the perpetrators of which are connected with Golden Dawn. In the majority of cases, the attacks were on foreigners and the attackers had neo-Nazi insignia.
The murder of rap singer Pavlos Fyssas, also known as a leftist activist, has forced the Greek government to take emergency measures. This does not seem so easy, as Golden Dawn is the first to have carried out a political assassination after the breakup of the terrorist organization "17 November". However, while the extremists were illegal, the neo-Nazis are a party represented in the Greek Parliament.
At the same time, witnesses leave no doubt that political motives hide behind Fyssas’ murder. Police sources claim that, according to the available data, the man who had called George Roupakias, aged 45, and had ordered him to kill Pavlos Fyssas is a leading figure in Golden Dawn.
The testimony of one of the rap singer’s friends describe how the attack was carried out: "When we left the establishment we saw about 15 men dressed in black clothes and with uncovered faces on Mela street where we had parked our cars and motorcycles". We were afraid and we did not go there; we walked to Panai Tsaldari street to buy ourselves some beer from the pavilion and to drink it until the men I have described went away. Then I saw about another 15 men coming to Panai Tsaldari street from the surrounding streets. They were dressed in black and some of them had motorcycle helmets in their hands. When they saw us, they started shouting, "Cowards! Come here!". We ran to Grigoriou Lambraki street and they chased us. Seven or eight of them managed to catch Pavlos Fyssas and, after throwing him down, they began beating him with their fists and kicking him".
Photo : AP Photo / Petros Yiannakouris
The description of the murder scene in his testimony reveals how the perpetrator had acted, "The attack happened in a few seconds. Fyssas then got up and asked them why they had attacked him. It was about 11:40 pm. I saw a grey-coloured Nissan car coming to us, moving in the opposite lane of Panai Tsaldari street. The car stopped about five metres away from Fyssas. Only the driver was inside the car. He got out and then I realized that he was a big man of normal build and with short dark hair, wearing a black shirt and jeans (...). He walked to Fyssas and stabbed him in the chest with a sharp object, possibly a knife. My friend fell to the ground bleeding but, before that, showed me the man and said, "He did it". After the man stabbed my friend, he returned to the car and got into it but he was unable to leave because the policemen, who had arrived, stopped him and arrested him. Then we called the emergency department and the ambulance drove my friend to the hospital in Nikea where they found out that he was dead".
Regarding what had happened in the establishment where the victim and his friend and witness had been before the attack, he said, "About half an hour earlier Pavlos and D. had quarrelled with two men at the establishment but he did not tell me about what. Besides, he said that one of the men had phoned someone, asking him to throw some people out of the establishment".
According to unconfirmed information, it is expected that the Minister of Public Order will meet with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras today.
To be continued
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