Jailed Golden Dawn leader and two more MPs to appear in Parl’t for vote
Golden Dawn’s leader Nikos Michaloliakos and another two party MPs, Christos Pappas and Yiannis Lagos, are on Wednesday to be transferred from pretrial custody to address Parliament ahead of a vote to lift their immunity on a range of charges.
Security is expected to be tight both inside Parliament and around Syntagma Square where supporters of the neofascist party have planned a rally in the morning to express solidarity with the GD legislators. It will be the first time the three have been in Parliament since their arrest last September and they are expected to use the opportunity to slam the government and to play up GD’s strong performance in last month’s European Parliament and local authority elections. The three are being held in custody pending trial for membership of a criminal organization.
Wednesday’s vote relates to additional charges – of illegal gun ownership for Michaloliakos and Lagos, and of creating an illegal archive for Pappas, who was found in possession of Nazi memorabilia.
On Tuesday the magistrates leading a criminal probe into the party granted five more GD lawmakers additional time to prepare their testimonies. Giorgos Germenis was given until June 17 to respond to the charges. Constantinos Barbaroussis is to face magistrates again on June 18, Antonis Gregos on June 19, Polyvios Zisimopoulos on June 20 and Artemis Matthaiopoulos on June 23.
