Prosecutor wants Michaloliakos back behind bars
An appeals court prosecutor has appealed a decision of a Lamia court earlier this month to grant conditional release to Nikos Michaloliakos, who in 2020 was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months’ imprisonment after being convicted of leading the Golden Dawn criminal organization.
Nikitas Theologidis argues that Michaloliakos, although he meets the statutory requirements for conditional release, has shown no remorse for his actions or moral improvement, citing his extensive writings where Michaloliakos claims he is imprisoned because of his political beliefs.
At the release hearing, the council, however, deemed that the articles glorifying the neo-Nazi ideology do not constitute illegal actions.
The judicial council must now deliberate on Michaloliakos’ release again. Should the prosecutor’s proposal be accepted, the Golden Dawn leader will be returned to prison.
He was released on May 2 on condition that he is banned from leaving Attica, is required to report to his local police station (in Pefki) once a month, and is not allowed to meet with any of the defendants in the Golden Dawn crime case.
After a five-year trial of dozens of top officials, members and supporters of Golden Dawn, Michaloliakos was convicted in October 2020 for running a criminal organization blamed for numerous violent hate crimes.
Eleven other former parliament members were jailed for between five and seven years for membership of a criminal organization, while a party associate was given a life sentence for the murder of Greek rap singer Pavlos Fyssas in a 2013 attack that triggered the crackdown against the party.
