NEWS

Golden Dawn’s obstructive tactics fuel fears in judiciary

Judicial sources have expressed concern that MPs and members of Golden Dawn who are being held in connection with a criminal probe into the ultra-right party might end up being released before their cases come to trial as they use legal tactics to drag out the probe.

Polyvios Zisimopoulos on Friday became the latest in a series of the party’s lawmakers to be granted an extension to testify before investigating magistrates Ioanna Klapa and Maria Dimitropoulou following a request by party leader Nikos Michaloliakos (photo) earlier this month for them to be dismissed.

Michalolaikos’s request was based on allegations that Stathis Boukouras, a Golden Dawn MP who left the party in March after claiming to be unaware of its activities, was being coerced by the investigators to testify against the party.

Sources told Kathimerini that such tactics, although abusive, cannot be bypassed. Michaloliakos’s appeal is expected to be heard by the Council of Appeals Court Judges in the coming days.

Another strategy that has been used by many GD MPs has been to invoke their right to silence, refusing to answer the questions of the magistrates in a bid to obstruct the process of the investigation.

The obstructive tactics could result in some of the suspects completing the maximum 18-month period in pre-trial custody before their case comes to trial, judicial sources fear.

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