ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The jailed head of Greece’s Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party insisted Wednesday that a judicial crackdown on the party is an establishment plot aimed to sap its growing popularity.
Nikos Michaloliakos addressed a plenary session of Parliament, in his first public appearance since he was put in a maximum security jail in September pending trial for allegedly running a criminal organization.
“I accuse you of bringing the head of Greece’s third-largest party (here) in handcuffs,” Michaloliakos said during a speech in which he told the parliamentary speaker to “shut up!”
About 600 party supporters shouted slogans outside as police led Michaloliakos and another two jailed party lawmakers to speak in a debate on lifting their immunity on additional weapons charges — which they deny.
“You have drawn up charges with your eyes on opinion polls,” Michaloliakos told Parliament. “You have kept me in prison, unfairly, for eight entire months … Golden Dawn is the victim of a political plot.”
Golden Dawn lawmakers repeatedly shouted abuse and walked out before the ballot, in which 223 of the 224 lawmakers present voted in favor of the additional charges being pressed.
Michaloliakos argued that unlicensed firearms found in his home were for his personal protection.
“I was a target of terrorists,” Michaloliakos said.
The party, now Greece’s third most popular, rocketed out of the margins on a wave of anti-austerity and anti-immigrant sentiment amid the country’s acute financial crisis. In national elections two years ago, it gained 18 of Parliament’s 300 seats.
But last year’s killing of a left-wing musician, allegedly by a Golden Dawn supporter, sparked an investigation that led to all lawmakers elected on the Golden Dawn ticket being charged with running a criminal organization. Six are in pre-trial detention.
Two Golden Dawn lawmakers left the party after the judicial crackdown. All 18 deny the charges. No trial date has been set.
