Appeals Court on Golden Dawn sentencing reconvenes on Friday morning
The Appeals Court deciding on the sentences of far-right Golden Dawn former MPs and other members is adjourned until Friday morning, when judges will hear defense lawyers on their clients' extenuating circumstances.
The sesion will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Friday.
A furore broke out during Thursday's session of the Golden Dawn trial after the prosecutor on the bench, Adamantia Economou, recommended that the court reject all extenuating circumstances put forward by the defendants. She had exempted only the former MPs Dimitris Koukoutsis, Stathis Boukouras and Chrysovalantis Alexopoulos, who had asked for a specific extenuating instances based on the old penal code. The three had not faced other criminal charges.
Economou later proposed that extenuating circumstances be admitted for all those who were found guilty of membership in Golden Dawn as a criminal organization, but who had not committed crimes during their membership.
On Wednesday, the Athens Court of Appeals delivered a guilty verdict for seven members of Golden Dawn's leadership, finding that they had run the party as a criminal organisation. Out of the total of 65 individuals on trial, 50 were found guilty of forming and running a criminal organization. Golden Dawn's systematic criminal action began in 2008.
In a unanimous ruling, Greek justices ruled that Golden Dawn was a criminal organisation "wearing the cloak of a political party," in accordance with the indictment in the case.
Source: ana-mpa
