Post date: Sep 29, 2013 6:46:53 PM
One more senior lawmaker from the far-right Greek Golden Dawn party faces a prosecutor to hear charges at an Athens courthouse.
ATHENS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 29, 2013) (REUTERS) - One more lawmaker from the extreme-right Golden Dawn Party stood before a prosecutor on Sunday (September 29) in handcuffs to be charged after being arrested by police.
Christos Papas, a senior member of the party, had earlier turned himself in at theAthens police headquarters after the top court ordered his arrest.As masked police led Pappas into the courthouse he shouted: "Long live the Greek people! Do not believe them! Hail Golden Dawn! Hail popular nationalism! Do not believe them, they are liars."
The leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party will appear in court on Wednesday, while four more of its lawmakers will appear before an investigation magistrate on Tuesday to enter pleas on charges of belonging to a criminal organization after being arrested following the killing of an anti-fascist rapper.
The arrest of party leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos, party spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris, four other lawmakers and 13 party members on Saturday (September 28) was the biggest mass detention of lawmakers since the end of Greece's military dictatorship in 1974.
The fatal stabbing of 34-year-old Pavlos Fissas on September 17 stirred outrage and protests across Greece and led to an investigation into the party for evidence linking it to the attack and dozens more criminal offences. The party denies any links to the killing.
Ιt has also prompted a shake-up of Greek police in light of evidence obtained by investigators indicating that Golden Dawn cells were operating within the force. Two police officers were arrested on Saturday (September 28) in connection with the inquiry and several senior officers have been suspended or replaced.
Two days after the killing, the government passed onto the highest civilian court a file containing 32 cases of suspected crimes linked to members of Golden Dawn, including four knife attacks on immigrants, one of which was fatal.