Athens: Five lawmakers of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn including its founder Nikos Michaloliakos will face charges of belonging to a criminal organisation, a court source said Saturday.
The five, who were arrested Saturday along with 15 other Golden Dawn members in a massive police sweep, will remain in custody until their appearance before a magistrate, the source said.
Police swooped on Michaloliakos and his deputies 10 days after the murder of an anti-fascist musician, allegedly by a member of the Golden Dawn party, an act that shocked Greece and made headlines around the world.
The Greek government coalition has been repeatedly accused of being too lenient with the neo-Nazis, but the arrests show its ability to act on a social issue even at a time of protracted economic crisis.
The image of a handcuffed Michaloliakos, 56, being led away was all over Greek television.
According to one court source, the investigations carried out over the past week by the Greek supreme court have enabled the charges to be brought and for Golden Dawn to be identified as a “criminal organisation”.
The arrests come just as Greece once again faces close scrutiny by European leaders and international bankers.
“It is not a coincidence that these arrests occurred on the day (Greek Prime Minister Antonis) Samaras left for Washington,” said Nikolakopolous, of the Opinion Institute.
Michaloliakos is a disgraced former officer cadet and devotee of Greek dictator George Papadopoulos, with whom he spent time in prison in the late 1970s for an assault and bombing attack.
Golden Dawn entered parliament in June 2012 and has 18 deputies in the house.
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