Prosecutor lodges appeal for longer prison terms for Golden Dawn leadership
An appeals prosecutor filed a motion on Thursday for the leadership of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn to be slapped with the maximum prison term of 15 years for setting up and running a criminal organization.
In his motion, prosecutor Stelios Kostarellos argued that the 13-year sentences passed down to party chief Nikos Michaloliakos and heavyweights Ilias Kasidiaris, Christos Pappas, Yiannis Lagos, Giorgos Germenis, Ilias Panagiotaros and Artemis Matthaiopoulos are too lenient.
He said that as the highest-ranking members in the organization, they exercised complete control over all its criminal activities by having set up an automated mechanism, with a structure and a hierarchy, which ensured that the leaders’ commands were instantly passed down to and carried out by the lower ranks.
Kostarellos is also seeking tougher sentences for five Golden Dawn members convicted of attacking a group of Egyptian fishermen in their home in 2012 and causing serious injuries to one of their victims. In this instance, the prosecutor argued, the assailants were acting according to the will of the leaders of Golden Dawn, had no cause for carrying out the assault and were intent on removing human life, thus meriting the highest possible sentence.
The prosecutor has not appealed the sentences related to the 2013 murder of anti-fascist musician Pavlos Fyssas or on the assault on members of the communist-affiliated PAME union.
