Eleven deputies elected with the Spartiates (Spartans) ticket in last June’s general election will be tried before a three-justice misdemeanor court on June 19 on charges of deceiving voters. They’ll be joined in the dock by imprisoned former Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) ringleader Ilias Kasidiaris and an attorney.
The charges relate to an indictment filed earlier this month by the supreme court’s chief prosecutor, and following an investigation sparked by statements by Spartiates president Vassilis Stigas, who is not a defendant.
The latter has claimed that Kasidiaris created and is the real leader of the far-right party from his prison cell. His is charged with moral complicity in the deception. The attorney is accused of being the ‘go-between’ and also faces a single count of complicity in deceiving voters.
Kasidiaris’ conviction of participating in a criminal network disqualifies him from leading or controlling a political formation. Prosecutors accuse the defendants of repeatedly visiting and meeting with Kasidiaris in prison.
A closely anticipated decision by a special high court, acting as an election tribunal, is pending on whether all of the elected Spartiates deputies will lose their seats.
Parliament’s ethics committee a day earlier voted unanimously to lift the immunity of 11 MPs of the far-right party following an Athens Prosecutor’s order to investigate if they are acting as a ‘front’ for Kasidiaris.
The accused denied the allegations, speaking to the press and before the ethics committee, saying they were ‘unfounded’. Seven of the deputies reportedly requested to waive their immunity to prove, as they said, their innocence.
