The Court of Appeals in Athens has upheld the convictions of 42 defendants associated with Golden Dawn, formally confirming the party’s status as a criminal organization.
This ruling, delivered five and a half years after the initial lower court decision, effectively seals the verdict that the party operated as a criminal syndicate under the guise of a political organization. As the presiding judge announced the decision, she confirmed that the court maintained the mitigating factors previously recognized during the initial trial.
Golden Dawn: Leadership and membership convictions
The court found all seven members of the party’s leadership guilty of “directing a criminal organization.” These individuals are:
Nikos Michaloliakos, Ilias Kasidiaris, Ioannis Lagos, Christos Pappas, Ilias Panagiotaros, Giorgos Germenis, and Artemis Matthaiopoulos.
A total of 42 defendants, including 11 former Members of Parliament (MPs), were found guilty of membership in the criminal organization. Among them are the sector leaders of Nikea and Perama, as well as Giorgos Roupakias, the self-confessed killer of Pavlos Fyssas.
Key cases and rulings
The Murder of Pavlos Fyssas: Giorgos Roupakias was found guilty of premeditated murder, upholding the lower court’s verdict. He was also convicted of membership in the criminal organization. The court also found 15 other defendants guilty as accomplices to the murder of the musician.
The Attack on Egyptian Fishermen: Five defendants were found guilty of attempted murder for the 2012 attack on Egyptian fishermen in Keratsini.
Magda Fyssas, the mother of the murdered musician, was present in a crowded courtroom. Notably, of the 42 individuals convicted, only Ioannis Lagos and Ilias Kasidiaris—the only defendants currently incarcerated—were physically present at the proceedings.
The court is now expected to deliberate on the granting of any mitigating circumstances and whether to adopt the prosecutor’s appeal regarding sentencing. Prosecutors are seeking to increase the sentences of 12 defendants, including the party leadership, raising their prison terms from 13 to 15 years.
Additionally, six other defendants—including former MPs Stathis Boukouras, Chrysovalantis Alexopoulos, Michalis Arvanitis, Eleni Zaroulia, Dimitris Koukoutsis, and one other member—face the possibility of immediate incarceration, as they had previously been granted suspended sentences pending the appeal.
