Golden Dawn's Patelis charged in Fyssas murder case

According to the indictment, supported by reports, Patelis, described as the head of Nikaia's Golden Dawn nucleus and alleged commander of its so called “raid squads”, was contacted about Fyssas' whereabouts via SMS message and was the first person to receive accused murderer Roupakias' phone call after the attack.

Consequently, Patelis allegedly called local Golden Dawn MP Yiannis Lagos, but waited until early the next morning to call party chief Nikos Mihaloliakos on his land line. The phone communication of the fateful night was crucial evidence fro the prosecution's case and it came from surveillance by the Greek Intelligence Agency (KYP).

This was the judicial development of the day. The political one was much more fierce, though hardly unexpected. Yesterday, opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party parliament spokesman Nikos Voutsis accused majority government partner New Democracy of engineering the judiciary's prosecution on Golden Dawn for pure political reasons.

His claim is that the conservatives have a lot to gain if Golden Dawn is outlawed, in the sense that most of the extreme right electorate would vote for New Democracy. This is a valid theory, but for one serious flaw: there is no serious indication that the majority of Golden Dawn supporters will vote for the conservatives.

The response by government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou was immediate. He asked SYRIZA president why he hasn't responded -positively or negatively- to his spokesman's accusations, adding that if he doesn't, he is equally responsible for offending the impartiality of the justice system and for gross political misconduct.