The prosecutor in the high-profile Golden Dawn case on Monday recommended suspended sentences for all the convicted defendants – sans the man convicted of homicide, Giorgos Roupakias – a development considered as a surprise by legal analysts in the country, given the grave nature of the case.
The extremist political party’s founder and leader, Nikos Michaloliakos, along with his top lieutenants, all of whom were elected to Parliament prior to 2019, were found guilty of running a criminal organization, with the highest sentences handed down being 13 years in prison.
In qualifying her recommendation, appellate-level prosecutor Adamantia Economou said none of the now convicted GD cadres violated bail conditions, either before the judicial investigation stage or after they served 18 months in pre-trial detention – the maximum allowed period under Greek law. She also opined that all of the defendants resided in known addresses are not flight risks.
The other reasons she cited in explaining her highly lenient recommendations were the fact that the majority of defendants have not been convicted of previous offenses, disbanded the party – which critics charge is a genuine neo-Nazi formation – and have not committed alleged offenses since their arrest.
In every instance, however, the three-judge panel is free to ignore the prosecutor’s recommendations and hand down sentences based on a majority (2-1) or majority basis.
