The first prosecutorial recommendation in the explosive and prolonged trial of an ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn member, charged in the stabbing death of a rapper more than six year ago, came on Wednesday, more than four and a half years after it commenced.
Three-justice appeals court prosecutor Adamantia Economou recommended a guilty verdict against the confessed perpetrator, Giorgios Roupakias, while she recommended the acquittal of another 17 defendants in the same case.
In a summation, Economou held Roupakias as solely responsible for the homicide of 34-year-old Pavlos Fyssas in September 2013. Fyssas was known as an anti-fascist rapper, reportedly the reason he was targeted by Roupakias during late-night street encounter in the working-class Piraeus-area district of Keratsini.
Additionally, she judged that Roupakias, a mid-level cadre of the extremist group, acted alone and was not provoked by the victim.
Nearly 70 people were initially charged in a massive indictment, including Golden Dawn’s (Chryssi Avgi) now out-of-Parliament leadership.
Critics have charged that the extensive and lengthy investigation, followed by a voluminous indictment implicating Golden Dawn as a criminal organization, considerably delayed the trial, allowing the self-confessed perpetrator, who was apprehended at the scene of the homicide in possession of the murder weapon, to remain outside jail for years – and after an initial 18-month maximum pre-trial incarceration.
