Golden Dawn Leader Michaloliakos Back to Greek Jail

The Appeals Council completely overturned the decision of the Lamia Misdemeanor Council deciding that Michaloliakos remains, despite his trial and heavy conviction, unrepentant.

A Greek appeals court annulled a previous decision that set free -with restrictions- the former leader of the now-defunct neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn, Nikos Michaloliakos.

The Appeals Council completely overturned the decision of the Lamia Misdemeanor Council deciding that Michaloliakos remains, despite his trial and heavy conviction, unrepentant.

Judges ruled that through a series of articles that were taken into account, he continues to praise and support Nazi practices implemented by the hard core of his party, reaching to the brutal murder of Pavlos Fyssas and a series of other criminal actions.

Michaloliakos had been sentenced to 13 years and six months imprisonment for his leadership of the nazi group “in the guise of a political party”.

The Lamia Misdemeanor Council decided in early May to release him on parole after it accepted his petition for early release with conditions.

Despite the public prosecutor’s recommendation that Michaloliakos be denied parole, on the grounds that he has shown no real signs of remorse, nor any sign that he had repented of his actions or modified his views, the judges decided that the prisoner should be given the benefit of any doubts.

They did not accept that articles written by Michaloliakos, which the public prosecutor presented to support his case, were an indication that he would re-offend if released.

Their ruling called for his release on condition that he remain within the Attica regional unit, appear in person at the Pefki police station where he lives once a month and does not consort with fellow defendants convicted in connection with the same case.

Golden Dawn’s Michaloliakos and Greek justice

Michaloliakos was convicted in October 2020 to 13 years in prison for running a criminal organization blamed for numerous violent hate crimes in a landmark ruling, following a five-year trial of dozens of top officials, members and supporters of Golden Dawn, an organization founded as a neo-Nazi group in the 1980s that rose to become Greece’s third-largest political during a major financial crisis in the previous decade.

Eleven other former parliament members were jailed for between five and seven years for membership in a criminal organization, while a party associate was given a life sentence for the murder of Greek rap singer Pavlos Fyssas in a 2013 attack that triggered the crackdown against the party.

Following the fatal stabbing of Fyssas by a supporter of his party, Michaloliakos was arrested in a 28 September 2013 sweep, along with numerous other Golden Dawn leaders on the charges of being involved in a criminal organization.

The charge sheet included murder, extortion, and involvement in the disappearance of up to 100 immigrants. After 18 months of pretrial detention, the maximum allowed, Michaloliakos was released from jail and placed under house arrest. On 29 July 2015, his house arrest was lifted, but he was prohibited from leaving the Attica region.

In April 2015, the trial of Michaloliakos and 68 other defendants began at the high-security Korydallos prison in Athens, but was adjourned a number of times for technical reasons and to find a more suitable setting.

Michaloliakos was one of 68 Golden Dawn leaders who were found guilty in October 2020. He was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison.