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A recent incident at the airport in Athens has again given rise to the discussion on who has the right to carry weapons in Greece and why. Initially, Antonis Gregos, a deputy of Golden Dawn, had tried to blame the blind shot from his gun on a security guard but later he assumed responsibility and apologized for the incident.
 
Various publications in the Greek press have been warning for a long time that all members of the extreme right party have been carrying weapons, including in parliament. On this occasion, the leadership of the National Assembly has ordered the installation of a metal detector at the entrance.

A report in Ethnos newspaper gives a logical answer to the question of how all deputies of Golden Dawn have obtained permits to carry weapons. According to the article, the certificates that they are mentally healthy have been issued by the same psychiatrist who works in a psychiatric hospital in the Athens suburb of Daphne, namely Kostas Paraschakis. He was a party parliamentary candidate from the region of Lassithi in Crete during last year's election and he has never hidden his sympathy towards the military junta that had ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974.

Psychiatrist Kostis Paraschakis is making a Nazi salute during an event of Golden Dawn

During a TV broadcast, to which he was invited as a commentator, Paraschakis had unequivocally said, "I am speaking for myself and I am urging active military in our country to take weapons in their hands. The Greek people will support them." In connection with this opinion of Paraschakis, the National Council for Radio and Television imposed on the media a fine to the amount of 15,000 euro. However, this is not the only case. In a letter sent in May 2012, Theodoros Megaloikonomou, head of the 9th psychiatric clinic at the hospital, describes how, while on duty, Paraschakis had issued two certificates allowing "two persons whose appearance has even attracted the attention of others" to carry weapons.

In his letter, Megaloikonomou openly raises the question of the issuance of permits to carry weapons in times of escalating violence in society. "Can a doctor issue such certificates to anyone just after an examination while he is on duty? In practice, this is issuance of certificates without any control."

In turn, Paraschakis said that while he was on the specific duty, two acquaintances of his had called him on the phone and expressd their desire to visit him in the hospital. It is worth noting that these were Polivios Zisimopoulos and Efsthathios Boukouras, members of Golden Dawn. He received them and when they asked him how to obtain permits to carry weapons, he informed them without issuing such documents to them. The management body of the psychiatric hospital has accepted Paraschakis’ explanations.

However, the most controversial action of the psychiatrist is the epicrisis which he had issued to Themis Skordeli, who is accused of complicity in the murder of an immigrant from Afghanistan in December 2011. The case has been recently postponed for the seventh consecutive time on the basis of a document issued by Paraschakis according to which Skordeli was suffering from depression and self-destructive tendencies. This does not prevent her from being a deputy of Golden Dawn. The fact that a doctor and a patient are candidates and deputies of the same party is also a precedent especially when the party does not agree that the "mentally ill" have the same rights as "healthy" people.

The party’s web site contains the following text:

"Hereditary defective people such as the paranoid, mentally depressed, schizophrenics, epileptics, carriers of mutated genes, incurable alcoholics, addicted drug users and others should be subjected to sterilization. Natural selection, sterilization and euthanasia are right as long as they are backed by legal guarantees, responsible medical control and biological and moral basis."

Psychiatrist Kostis Paraschakis is not even trying to hide his sympathy for Golden Dawn despite the party’s inhumane views. His Facebook profile contains, at the top, the image of its leader Nikos Michaloliakos and photos of events of the neo-Nazis. The videos of similar meetings are indicative of his views too. In one of them, the psychiatrist is raising his hand to make the typical Nazi salute, without worrying that it fully contradicts the mission of his profession.