Murder probe pinpoints more members of Golden Dawn
At least five more members of neofascist Golden Dawn are due to be charged in connection with the murder of Pavlos Fyssas last week after police inspected mobile phone records from the night he was stabbed to death by Giorgos Roupakias, who had close links to the far-right party.
According to sources, the police have identified all the people who took part in the events that led up to the murder of Fyssas, who was attacked last Tuesday night as he left a cafe in the Athens neighborhood of Amfiali, where he had been watching a soccer game with friends. It is thought that someone at the cafe heard one of Fyssas’s friends criticize Golden Dawn, which triggered a series of text messages and phone calls that led to some 50 people gathering in the area to attack the 34-year-old rapper and the people accompanying him.
Former Golden Dawn members have spoken to journalists on the condition of anonymity over the past few days and claimed there was a strict chain of command, which would include the heads of the local party offices and MPs, whenever supporters were involved in such attacks. The data gathered by police so far appears to confirm this.
The evidence amassed is also vital if prosecutors are to build their case that Golden Dawn could be classified as a criminal organization, meaning its members would face stiffer sentences. The investigation is being carried out by Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Charalambos Vourliotis, who is examining 33 case files involving party members and MPs.
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias on Tuesday sent supplementary information to the Supreme Court with offenses attributed to Golden Dawn. The offenses, which are in addition to a list of 32 sent last week, include an attack on members of the Communist Party (KKE) in Perama by far-rightists earlier this month and a list of other alleged offenses supplied by the leftist SYRIZA deputy Manolis Glezos. The four suspects in the Perama assault are all residents of Perama and senior officials of the local chapter of Golden Dawn, Kathimerini understands. Originally six suspects had been linked to the assault, which left nine KKE members in the hospital with serious injuries, but a witness later changed their testimony relating to one of the suspects while it was determined that another of the suspects is currently serving time in a Greek jail. One of the two suspects has a store in Perama and has been charged for drug dealing and assault in the past while a second is believed to have headed Golden Dawn’s Perama hit squad.
In a related development, a Thessaloniki misdemeanors court handed down suspended prison sentences of six to 10 months to four members of Golden Dawn who were arrested outside the party’s offices in the northern port city last Saturday after being found with weapons ranging from clubs and switchblades to flares.
