Photo: ethnos.gr
After sending the leader, his deputy and a member to detention, the Supreme Court of Greece has requested the removal of the parliamentary immunity of three of Golden Dawn’s representatives in parliament, namely deputies Panagiotis Iliopoulos, George Germenis and Efstathios Boukouras, as the testimony of protected witnesses accuses them of the commission of criminal acts.
A request for the removal of the parliamentary immunity of Ilias Panagiotaros, who was arrested on 28 September and released several days later, has also been submitted to the parliament on charges of organizing a riot. The events took place on 18 April 2010 in Larissa. Members of Golden Dawn had organized a meeting, planning to hold a procession in honour of Cypriot Colonel George Grivas, better known as Digenis. He was the military head of the organization EOKA and fought against all opponents of the union of Cyprus with Greece. For security reasons, the police in Larissa had banned the procession from setting off to the central square of the city.
When the police forces attempted to stop them, the members of Golden Dawn began throwing stones at them. Ilias Panagiotaros and four other members of the extremist party were among those apprehended. A pre-court file for the organization of a riot had been prepared against the deputy, and for participation in a riot and illegal possession of weapons against the rest. The trial was supposed to be held this June but was delayed because Panagiotaros’ parliamentary immunity should have been removed.
According to court sources, after the commencement of the criminal persecution against Golden Dawn which the indictment describes as a criminal organization, it is considered that the party has been broken up. Therefore, the crime is no longer ongoing which enforces the procedure for the withdrawal of the parliamentary immunity of all other party members who have not been charged along with Nikos Michaloliakos, Christos Pappas and Yiannis Lagos.
Judicial and police sources say that according to a testimony, a meeting of all those involved in the murder of Pavlos Fyssas had been convened after the crime by order of the leadership of Golden Dawn. The meeting involved senior members of the party who instructed those involved in the murder as to what to say to produce an alibi, how to explain the phone calls to each other and how to hide the involvement of deputies.
According to the same sources, the witness will talk about other bloody attacks Golden Dawn had carried out against foreigners. The person is the seventh of the protected witnesses and it is considered that if the testimony is proven, it will initiate the institution of criminal persecution against at least another 5 or 7 deputies of Golden Dawn who were involved in the attempt to conceal the traces of the murder of rap singer Pavlos Fyssas.
Another protected witness testified that he had been a member of Golden Dawn in Corinth until June 2012 and stated that he could provide information about a large number of attacks on illegal immigrants in the region. The witness said that deputy Efstathios Boukouras "possesses an unknown number of "Zastava" guns and has a stash of weapons and food in an abandoned monastery in the region of the ancient town of Kleones". He also described a case of an attack against immigrants at the port of Corinth in 2012 when members of Golden Dawn had pushed the foreigners into the sea. Not only had the DIAS policemen who were there done nothing but they had also laughed.
It is worth noting that, on Monday, Efstathios Boukouras went to the court complex Evelpidon, stating before the media that he was ready to surrender to the judicial authorities. He named the witness and described him as false.
The testimony of another protected witness known as "witness G" involves party deputy George Germenis in the case of the criminal organization Golden Dawn. The witness in question stated that he had become a member of the "Centaur programme" in 2006 and had been trained under the guidance of Germenis who had been the main person in charge of the training of new and young members. After completing his military service in 2010, the witness had been included in the core of the organization, which involved 300 to 400 people. In the testimony the witness described Germenis as a "captain" and as the final tester regarding the results of the training.
The testimony of another protected witness is shocking, according to which members of Golden Dawn had participated in massacres of lambs which they had organized in order to learn how to cut the carotid artery with a knife. The witness stated that he had been a member of the organization until recently and that its members had been required to read "Mein Kampf" by Hitler, Goebbels’ calendar and that, during the ideological classes, they had been told, "We will enter the parliament with tanks".
The witnesses stated in their testimony that during the exercises, they had shot with the gun of an operating policeman and that they had bought military clothes from the shops of deputy Ilias Panagiotaros. An interesting point is that the inscription on the labels of the T-shirts reads, "Made in Pakistan" and the members had been advised to remove the labels to avoid this being seen by other people. The T-shirts cost between 10 and 50 euro.
The investigation is continuing and it is expected that a special appellate magistrate will undertake the case. Its present investigators have sent to the office combating financial crime a request to examine the finances of Golden Dawn. The aim is to establish whether there is evidence for black money laundering or other financial crimes. The transactions of the bank accounts of the party and its members will soon be checked as well.