Lawyer for jailed far-right Golden Dawn MEP gives Nazi salute in Greek court

ATHENS — The appeal trial of dozens of jailed members of Greek neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn saw tempers flare Friday when the lawyer of a key defendant gave a Nazi salute in court.

Kostas Plevris, defending jailed ex-Golden Dawn Eurodeputy (MEP) Ioannis Lagos, gave the salute during an argument with the mother of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas, the group’s best-known victim.

Testifying on Friday, Magda Fyssas questioned attempts by Plevris to portray his client as a political prisoner.

Lagos, a member of the European Parliament, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and extradited from Belgium in 2021 to serve a 13-year jail term in Greece.

Prosecution lawyer Kostas Papadakis told AFP that Golden Dawn supporters in the audience had also made Nazi salutes during last week’s session.

The salute is not prohibited by law in Greece.

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The appeal trial began in June, nearly two years after the conviction of nearly 60 Golden Dawn defendants in a landmark case over the murder of Fyssas and other crimes including murder, assault and running a criminal organization.

It was initiated in October 2020 by a senior Greek prosecutor immediately after the original trial concluded, on the grounds that the sentences handed down were too lenient.

Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos and other senior members of the group — which was once Greece’s third most popular political party — received prison sentences ranging from five to just under 14 years.

They now face a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars.

The initial Golden Dawn trial, which lasted more than five years, has been described as one of the most significant in Greek political history.

Golden Dawn, a xenophobic and antisemitic neo-Nazi organization, existed on the fringes of Greek politics until the country’s 2010 debt crisis.

It capitalized on public anger over immigration and austerity, entering parliament for the first time in 2012 with a total of 18 seats.

Three years later, Golden Dawn emerged as the third most powerful political force in the country.

The appeal trial is expected to last at least a year.

A self-styled National Socialist and supporter of Greek wartime dictator Ioannis Metaxas, Kostas Plevris is the father of current Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris.

He has published books questioning the Holocaust and calling Jews “sub-human.”