A Greek court ruled on Thursday that convicted leaders of the ultra-right Golden Dawn party be sent to jail immediately, rejecting the prosecutor's proposal that their sentences be suspended pending an appeal, a Sputnik Greece correspondent reported on Thursday
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2020) A Greek court ruled on Thursday that convicted leaders of the ultra-right Golden Dawn party be sent to jail immediately, rejecting the prosecutor's proposal that their sentences be suspended pending an appeal, a Sputnik Greece correspondent reported on Thursday.
On October 7, several dozen Golden Dawn members, counting leaders, were convicted of crimes including violence, attempted murder and murder. The party itself was recognized as a criminal organization, which became the first such precedent in Europe's modern history.
For several days afterward, the court deliberated the possibility of suspending the sentences pending the appeal, which would mean that the convicts would remain at large for several years.
By the court's Thursday ruling, the Golden Dawn leadership did not receive a reprieve, which was only granted to 12 convicts. Therefore, 41 others will be sent to prison the same day.
This concludes a historic five-year trial that was at the forefront of the public discourse in Greece for years. The far-right party, founded in the 1980s, had risen to become a prominent political force and the third-largest parliament faction in the early 2010s but ended up losing all seats as a result of the 2019 elections.
