Members of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party have allegedly committed dozens of criminal acts, including voluntary and attempted homicides and violent street raids, court testimonies revealed.
Testimonies from former Golden Dawn members and police wiretaps
have revealed a series of "criminal acts,” including
scores of migrant beatings.
“I took part several times in activities involving 50 or 60
motorbikes, with two people on each,” an ex-member said in a
court testimony on Monday. “The one who was sitting behind
held a stick with the Greek flag and hit all the Pakistanis he
could see.”
Golden Dawn members organized “assault militias,” in which
dozens of members would ride the streets on motorbikes, hitting
immigrants with sticks, according to a government report.
The magistrate's report revealed that party members were trained
in military style, including the use of assault weaponry.
The neo-Nazi party began its attacks in 1987, said the report by
the deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Charalambos
Vourliotis. The group was strictly “following the principle
used by (Adolf) Hitler,” the document added.
Security at Athens's main court complex was tight on Tuesday as
preliminary hearings into the murder of anti-fascist rapper
Pavlos Fissas continued. Fissas, 34, was stabbed to death in the
heart and chest by a Golden Dawn supporter on September 17.
Prosecutors are also investigating whether the party played a
role in around 30 additional violent attacks.
Four Golden Dawn lawmakers – Ilias Panagiotaros, Ilias
Kasidiaris, Nikos Michos, and Yannis Lagos were arrested over the weekend and brought into
the courtroom on Tuesday. They formally face charges of
participating in a criminal organization and being aware of
Fissas’ murder.
Led by police guards, Panagiotaros raised his handcuffed fists in
the air, shouting: "This fairy tale has no end!"
A few dozen supporters of the extreme far-right group gathered to
express their support.
Golden Dawn denies having any link to the killing of the
anti-fascist rapper and neo-Nazi activities, saying the crackdown
on the party is a provocation and those who accused them of the
attack are "wretched sycophants" trying to win votes.
Police seized unlicensed weapons, Nazi flags, and portraits of
Adolf Hitler and George Ropakias from the Golden Dawn members.
Ropakias is the 45-year-old truck driver and Golden Dawn
supporter who confessed to killing Fissas.
Party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos and his deputy, Christos
Pappas, were among 22 people arrested in the crackdown on Golden
Dawn. They are expected to appear in court on Wednesday and
Thursday.
On Monday, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pledged to
eradicate the "shame" of neo-Nazism.
"We are dedicated in completely eradicating such a
'shame,’" Samaras said in a speech to the American Jewish
Committee in New York. "We must do it within the context of
our democratic constitution. But we have to go all the way and do
whatever it takes," the Premier said.
As part of its efforts to bring down Golden Dawn, the government
said it would present a bill targeting racist hate speech.
“[The bill] will be submitted to parliament in a matter of
days. It has symbolic and moral value,” Deputy Prime Minister
Evangelos Venizelos told reporters on Monday.
Another law which the government intends to enact will suspend
Golden Dawn's state funding, as its leadership is facing
prosecution on felony charges.
"Democracy can't fund its opponents," Venizelos said.
The Racist Violence Recording Network, a group monitoring hate
crimes in Greece, estimates there have been 300 serious assaults
by far-right gangs in the country over the past two years. This
is equivalent to three attacks per week. Nearly all of them
involve multiple attackers and end with stab wounds and broken
bones.
"The level of violence definitely increased. There are more
incidents recently that could be seen as having murderous
intent,'' AP quoted the network’s coordinator, Eleni Takou,
as saying. "There has been a definite pattern: Gangs patrol
the streets, sometimes with dogs. They usually wear black or
military clothing and carry some kind of weaponry -clubs,
baseball bats, knives. In other words, the attacks are not
spontaneous.''