Greek Far-Right Party’s New Leader Replaces Convicted Criminal

Ilias Kasidiaris in Athens, October 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/KOSTAS TSIRONIS

The Ellines party was founded in 2020 by a former member of the far-right Golden Dawn, Ilias Kasidiaris, who is currently serving a sentence for being part of a criminal organisation.

Based on a new law brought in by the votes of the New Democracy and PASOK parties in February this year, parties and political groups are prohibited from participating in elections if they have members who have been convicted of certain crimes, including participating in a criminal organisation.

Kanellopoulos told TV Greek channel OPEN that he will become the party's president after "some statutory procedures" are completed. The party was reported to have been founded in February 2022 with the slogan "the country needs a prosecutor."

Kostas Papadakis, a lawyer for Egyptian fishermen who were assaulted in June 2012 by Golden Dawn members, which led to one of various trials of its members, insisted that the actual leader of the Ellines party is still Kasidiaris.

"The appearance of a man out of nowhere in the leadership of a party without any political activity preceding it does not convince [anyone] of the reality of his status as a leader. It is undeniable that the real leader of the party is Kasidiaris," Papadakis told BIRN.

Kanellopoulos insisted he was not just a puppet of the imprisoned far-right politician.

"A deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court with my career can never be a puppet, not only for Mr. Kasidiaris, but for anyone," stated Kanellopoulos.

He also announced that Kasidiaris will be an Ellines party candidate for MP in Athens in the next elections.

But Papadakis argued that "Kassidiaris and anyone convicted in the Golden Dawn case cannot...