The convicted leader and founder of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party, Nikos Mihaloliakos, will return to prison after a council of judges rescinded his early conditional release on Monday.
Michaloliakos was arrested in his Athens home following the decision, and will be taken back to prison just over a month after his release.
Last month, another council of judges accepted Michaloliakos’ request for early release after he had served the minimal legal requirement. The move caused distress among political parties and local Greeks.
But Monday’s ruling, which followed an appeal by a prosecutor, found that 66-year-old Michaloliakos must serve the remainder of his 13-year sentence for running a criminal organisation blamed for violent hate crimes.
The court found Michaloliakos had shown no repentance for the crimes he was convicted of and was capable of reoffending if at liberty.
Mihaloliakos and other members of Golden Dawn were sentenced in 2020 following a high-profile, five-year trial. He was convicted of operating a criminal organisation that posed as a political party, as well as for crimes ranging from violent attacks on immigrants, to weapons offences and the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in 2013.
Source: AP News.
