Golden Dawn chief transferred to Korydallos Prison
The head of ultranationalist Golden Dawn party Nikos Michaloliakos was transferred to high-security Korydallos Prison on Thursday after he was ordered to remain in custody pending trial on charges of belonging to a criminal organization.
Michaloliakos was escorted to the high-security facility along with fellow Golden Dawn lawmaker Yiannis Lagos who was remanded in custody on Wednesday. Both men were expected to be detained in a specially-designed area in the prison’s women’s wing.
Giorgos Patelis, the head of Golden Dawn’s Nikaia chapter in southwest Athens who was also remanded in custody was transferred to the Malandrino Prison in central Greece where Giorgos Roupakias, the 45-year-old Golden Dawn member who fatally stabbed rapper Pavlos Fyssas on September 17, was also being held.
During a marathon session at the Evelpidon court complex in central Athens that went on until the early hours of Thursday, Michaloliakos denied charges of setting up and participating in a criminal group and claimed the charges were politically-motivated.
Christos Pappas, the party’s second in command faced a magistrate on Thursday. A day earlier party spokesman and Golden Dawn deputy Ilias Kasidiaris was relased after posting a 50,000 euro bail, while fellow Golden Dawn MPs Ilias Panayiotaros and Nikos Michos were also released. All three were ordered not to exit the country.
Meanwhile, a woman-sergeant also facing felony charges in the Golden Dawn case was transferred to the Elaionas women’s prison, in Thiva, on Thursday.
