From the 28th of September 2013, the leaders of Golden Dawn are being accused of directing a criminal organisation (Golden Dawn itself), which has been perpetrating felonies: murders (the most notable case being the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, the antifascist rapper who was stabbed to death by members of a storm-troop of Golden Dawn), attempted murders (against Egyptian migrants in 2012 and against communist militants in 2013, a few days before the murder of Fyssas), heavy bodily injuries and so on.

The defendants in the trial (that started on 20/4/2015) are 69. Twenty of them are accused of leading a criminal organisation (18 of them were/are MPs) and the rest are accused of participating in the criminal organisation and other crimes (murders, attempted murders, etc). One of the defendants is Artemios Mattheopoulos (ex MP of the organisation), the deputy leader of the APF (Alliance for Peace and Freedom) grouping.

After the beginning of the prosecution, the Greek Parliament voted a law according to which a party which is being prosecuted as a criminal organisation (its leader or a significant part of its Mps) will not be given state funding (according to the parties’ proportionate electoral size) until the prosecution is concluded and the defendants are found innocent (article 7A of law 3023/2002, added with the article 23 of law 4203/2013, ΦΕΚ 235_2013).

Out of the implementation of this law, after a vote in the Parliament on 19/12/2013 (ΦΕΚ 281_2013) and the ministerial decree of the Finance Minister (51776/23.12.2013, ΦΕΚ 3275_2013), the state funding of Golden Dawn as a party has been suspended (this does not include the MPs salaries and expenses).

Golden Dawn filed an appeal against the Ministerial Decree that implements the law, but the Supreme Court discarded the appeal (Court Decision 518_2015).

This means that the funding of Golden Dawn by the European Parliament through the APF is unique, since the greek state has suspended the funding of the party. Golden Dawn as a party is now solely funded by European citizens’ taxes.

You can also read:

• Over two million euros in EU subsidies granted to fascists.
• “The EU is financing a nazi terror group”.
• EU to review party subsidies in bid to halt money flow to fascists.
• Tell the European Parliament to stop funding neo-Nazi organisations like Golden Dawn.