Spartiates trial adjourned again; Kasidiaris release denied
Originally slated to begin in the summer, the trial against 11 former MPs of the far-right Spartiates (Spartans) party was postponed again on Thursday after party chief Vassilis Stingas failed to show up in court, citing obligations in Parliament.
The ex-lawmakers face charges of election fraud after being accused of acting as a Trojan horse for Ilias Kasidiaris so that the jailed deputy of the now-defunct neo-Nazi Golden party could maintain a presence, by proxy, in Parliament.
Kasidiaris is also in the dock for allegedly orchestrating the party’s formation and getting it above the 3% threshold needed to enter Parliament in the 2023 general elections. The influential Golden Dawn figure is widely believed to have been running a covert social media campaign from prison to get the party elected and to maintain his support base.
There is also a 13th defendant standing trial, a lawyer who is accused of liaising between Kasidiaris, who is serving a 13-year sentence for this role in Golden Dawn, and the party.
Stingas, a previously unknown politician who emerged on Greece’s political stage after announcing the founding of Spartiates in 2017 on a far-right nationalist-populist platform, has not been indicted in connection with the case. His role in the trial is that of a key witness.
Expressing its frustration at the latest delay caused by Stingas’ no-show on Thursday, the bench said his absence demonstrates “a lack of respect” in what is “a very serious trial.”
In a related development on Thursday, meanwhile, an appeals court in Lamia, central Greece, rejected the latest bid for early release lodged by Kasidiaris, who claims that he has served the minimum term of his sentence and is entitled to parole.
