Golden Dawn No 2 headed to maximum-security prison
The second-in-command of the now-defunct Golden Dawn neo-Nazi party was headed to prison in Domokos, central Greece on Friday, where he is expected to serve out a sentence of 13 years and three months for running a criminal organization.
Christos Pappas, 59, was ordered to carry out his sentence at the maximum-security penitentiary after appearing before a sentencing prosecutor in Athens on Friday, following his arrest the previous day after nine months on the run from the law.
Pappas will be joining former party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and other members of the neo-Nazi group that was ruled a criminal organization in a landmark trial last October promoted by the 2013 murder by a Golden Dawn member of an anti-fascist musician, the attempted murder of a group of Egyptian fishermen GD militias and another brutal attack on left-wing unionists orchestrated by the party.
“He wanted to surrender,” Pappas’ lawyer told the press on Friday.
Pappas was arrested on Thursday night in the Athens suburb of Zografou after he was located in the apartment of a woman who had run for local office in the 2019 elections with Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris.
His lawyer, Periklis Stavrianakis, said that Pappas claims he was only passing through at the time of his arrest and had not been living at the apartment, which has been under surveillance for around a week.
“I think he’s been in Athens the whole time,” Stavrianakis added.
