Galery

1

The deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court describes Golden Dawn, which was established in 1987, as an organization with a military structure that is dangerous to the institutions and the state system.

His report presents cases of murder, attempted murders, arsons and extortions among the activities of its members. According to the collected data, members of the organization attracted to it minors aged between 14 and 17 years who, after being trained, formed the "Centaur" action teams. The prosecutor states the name of a young man, aged 17, who was put in charge of the teams because of his knowledge of history and his other skills, and who, being a leader, trained the teams of underage members twice a week.

The report describes in detail the structure of the group led by Nikos Michaloliakos. According to the prosecutor, he is a leader under Führerprinzip which is the Nazi leader principle and the fundamental basis of political power in the state structures of the Third Reich. The philosophy is that "the Fuhrer’s word is above written law" and all must work to achieve the goals he sets. According to the Greek prosecutor, the leader of Golden Dawn managed and coordinated the members of the organization and assigned tasks to them.

The orders of the leader were delivered in accordance with the military hierarchy, either through Vice-President Christos Pappas, or through other members of the leadership formed by the already arrested deputies Ilias Kasidiaris, Yiannis Lagos, Ilias Panagiotaros and Nikos Michos.

According to the collected data, Golden Dawn’s head of operations was party spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris who was also responsible for the training of the members of the organized action teams, which took place at various locations in Attica and the Peloponnese and often included the use of real weapons.

It is worth noting that despite Golden Dawn’s hatred towards all foreigners, one of its members is of Albanian origin. The prosecutor's report does not mention his name, as he is not among those arrested, but it describes as important the role played by the ideological female leader of the organization who is also of Albanian origin. She is a friend of one of the arrested deputies and she was also detained and accused.

As to the murder of rap singer Pavlos Fyssas, the prosecutor believes that defendant George Roupakias was one of the leaders of the local branch of Golden Dawn in Nikea. He refers to the testimony according to which Roupakias is one of five members of the board in charge of the action teams in the region. Three more persons who had been to the place of the attack along with Roupakias were arrested in connection with the murder too. The cigarette butts found in Roupakias’ car and the biological material on them will be compared with the DNA of those captured. According to the report, the attack, which has marked the beginning of an avalanche of revelations and arrests of Golden Dawn’s leading figures, involved other members as well. All of them were arrested.

Particularly important for the investigation and for connecting the persons in question with the attack is the phone tapping carried out by the Greek counter intelligence service. The calls were made before and after the murder, and show the links between Roupakias and leading figures in Golden Dawn. Their talks after Roupakias’ testimony before the investigator are indicative as they share their satisfaction with the fact that he had not betrayed them.

According to the report, one of those arrested, an insurer by occupation, was to "launder" the dirty money of the organization through the establishment of different companies. Witnesses have provided ample evidence of racketeering of foreigners such as retailers and shop owners, as well as of smuggling.

Regarding the role of the police, the prosecutor’s opinion is that police members had supported the actions of the members of Golden Dawn or had been tolerant towards them, and that further investigation is necessary. It is worth noting that 2 of the 22 arrested were policemen.

The investigation of the case is continuing, the goal of the police and the anti-terrorism forces being to find the hiding places of the heavy arsenal of neo-Nazis. So far, guns, ammunition, iron knuckle dusters and swords have been found in the houses of those arrested, namely Nikos Michaloliakos and his deputies. A portrait of Hitler was found in Michaloliakos’ house and helmets with the "SS" sign and swastika, flags and banners with the same signs, empty wine bottles with portraits of Benito Mussolini, a greeting with the Nazi salute and a photo of Hitler with the words "Golden Dawn" at the top of it in the house of Christos Pappas.

It is expected that the detained deputies will testify in the coming days.