Judge in GD trial orders defendants to come to court
In a bid to breathe some momentum into the Golden Dawn trial, which has been dogged by delays and absences, presiding judge Maria Lepeniotou on Friday ordered that all defendants linked to the murder of leftist rapper Pavlos Fyssas attend the court sessions.
The judge’s decision followed several sessions during which only one out of a total of 68 defendants in the trial was present in the courtroom. From now on, the 18 defendants linked to Fyssas’s murder, including GD member Giorgos Roupakias, who stabbed him, will be obliged to appear in court.
The proceedings have been taking place in a makeshift courtroom in Attica’s high-security Korydallos Prison since April last year. The trial is to move to the Athens Appeals Court on June 27 following complaints by relatives of GD victims, local residents and Lepeniotou about the current venue.
Since the beginning of the trial, none of GD’s political leadership has appeared in court in an apparent bid to play down the politicians’ connection to crimes that have been attributed to members of the neofascist party.
