The lawyer of an MEP and ex-executive of the neo-Nazi Greek party Golden Dawn made the Hitler salute on Friday October 7 in the middle of the hearing of the appeal trial of the leaders of this formation, according to judicial sources at AFP.
Known for his anti-Semitic and far-right positions, Konstantinos Plevris, who is also the father of the current Minister of Health, Thanassis Plevris, defends before an Athens Court of Appeal Ioannis Lagos, elected to the European Parliament and former Golden Dawn executive, sentenced to 13 years and eight months in prison.
“political prisoner”
The former executives and leaders of Golden Dawn are on trial in this court for the September 2013 assassination of committed Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas, who was stabbed to death. According to a judicial source, Konstantinos Plevris had a lively exchange with the civil party and Magda Fyssa, mother of the victim and emblematic figure of the anti-fascist movement. She is the main witness in this trial which opened in June.
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“We have lived through threats (…), the terror of the Golden Dawn militias», «the worst being that we even heard that (Ioannis) Lagos is a “political prisoner“”, protested Magda Fyssa, applauded by some sympathizers of the anti-fascist movement present in the room. Protesting against this applause, Konstantinos Plevris then rose to perform the Nazi salute: “it is not prohibited by law“, he launched, according to a judicial source.
country in shock
The President of the Court suspended the session after this gesture which is not the subject of prosecution in Greece, unlike other European countries such as Germany. The assassination of Pavlos Fyssas, perpetrated by a member of Golden Dawn with the support of its leaders, deeply shocked a country then in economic and social slump.
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Golden Dawn, a party which then sat in Parliament, had until then benefited from the virtual impunity of the authorities. “Your court must judge whether the Nazi salute is tolerated in the room“, protested Kostas Papadakis, lawyer for the civil party, addressing the President of the Court. Kostas Papadakis told AFP that during the previous hearing, Golden Dawn supporters gave the Nazi salute in the room during a recess.
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