Founder Nikos Michaloliakos declares himself ‘proud’ as he gives himself up to police
A three-member court has ended one of the most critical trials in Greece with a ruling that nearly the entire leadership of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn will be imprisoned with immediate effect for operating a criminal gang under the guise of being a political party.
In a historic decision likely to have ramifications for other extremist far-right groups, the tribunal rejected requests for the sentences of Golden Dawn’s founder, Nikos Michaloliakos, and other former MPs to be suspended pending appeal. Instead, the tribunal ordered that only 12 of the 51 defendants it had found guilty could remain free pending appeal.