Prominent former Golden Dawn MP convicted of slander

Former Golden Dawn lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris was handed a four-month suspended prison sentence for slandering a former party official who was a witness for the prosecutor in the trial of the neo-Nazi party.

Ilias Stavrou had already left the party when he testified against the leadership of Golden Dawn in the long-running trial.

In 2014, after he completed his depositions before the investigative magistrates working on the case, two articles appeared on Golden Dawn's website in which he was described as "mentally disturbed” and that he had attacked an employee while in Parliament.

Stavrou sued Kasidiaris and party leader Nikos Michaloliakos for slander.  Michaloliakos was acquitted because the articles appeared on the website while he was in prison pending trial.