203rd Hearing, Women’s Wing, Korydallos Prison, November 27th, 2017

I. Access to the Court

The courtroom remains open to the public upon presentation of a state ID card, which is retained by court authorities for the duration of the session, until all audience seats in the courtroom are filled. Few journalists and spectators showed up in court today.

II. Presence of defendants

None of the defendants was present at the hearing.

III. Testimony of protected witness D continues

A. Examination of the witness by the defense counsels

The officer of the court and the officer of the state prosecutor’s office confirmed that the room contains just them and protected witness D, that the door is closed, and that the witness has no documents in front of him.
The witness was questioned almost exclusively by defense counsel Pantazi and then, briefly, by defense counsels Kontovazenitis and Papadelli.

The witness stated that he is a resident of Athens, not Korinthos. Responding to a relevant question he said that he has first-hand knowledge, from when he was a member of Golden Dawn, not from listening to others talk. As for his duties, he said that he was responsible for security in the Golden Dawn chapter of Nemea. According to the witness, the offices in Nemea opened five months before their inauguration. The witness was traveling from Athens to Nemea in order to participate in the relevant meetings, which were organized in order to attract the interest (and votes) of citizens, at first three times a week, and then sometimes even every day.

The witness stated that the incident at DEI took place earlier than the incident with the immigrants in the port. Boukouras was the leader of the Golden Dawn group that caused the incident, despite the fact that he hadn’t yet been elected as an MP for Golden Dawn. The defense counsel protested that the phrase “Since the state won’t do something about them, we will” that the witness attributed to her principal, was later said by Adonis Georgiadis [:a New Democracy MP]. The witness insisted that he heard the phrase from Boukouras.

As for the incident in Tsaldari Square (“Perivolakia”) in Korinthos, the witness stated that he was there with 15 other Golden Dawners in order to hand out election pamphlets. According to the witness, when they heard the cry “Get them!”, they all gave chase to four Pakistanis who were also at the square. According to the witness, this action was considered very positive by the voters of Golden Dawn, since at the time “Korinthos was full of Pakistanis”. A few DIAS police officers were present during the incident. According to the witness, they conducted some preliminary questioning of the assailants etc. but he doesn’t know if the matter was prosecuted.

According to the witness, the “training” of Golden Dawn members consisted of camping in nature, paintball, running, and martial arts exercises. Furthermore, the witness stated that “all the flagpoles were clubs on which we had affixed the flags”. The witness stated that there were Godlen Dawn weapons stashed in two abandoned monasteries, in Kleones and in the mountainous region of Korinthos. He doesn’t know if the police looked into the matter or if they found anything.
Before becoming a member of Golden Dawn, the witness voted for ND. He believes that there is an ideological difference between Golden Dawn and ND. The witness specified that the “blue race” that he had mentioned earlier, meant “national socialism”. The witness said that when the Golden Dawn offices opened there had been no troubles, nor was there any incitement to commit crimes by Michaloliakos or Kasidiaris. The witness had seen in the local chapter of Golden Dawn Boukouras’ Zastava handgun. The witness didn’t know whether Boukouras had a permit for it. Finally, the witness said that when he was taken in a patrol car from Korinthos to Athens to testify he could have left at any time – he hadn’t been arrested.

Defense counsel stated that she thought that the witnesses answers seemed “fabricated” expressly to harm her principal [:Boukouras]. Due to the mode of questioning by defense counsel Pantazi and her constant remarks, the witness protested: “But I feel as if I’m the one being accused here”. It must be noted that the presiding judge had to bring in line the defense counsel numerous times because of the way she was posing her questions.

At this point, because a member of the court was feeling unwell, the presiding judge adjourned for November 28th, 2017, at the Women’s Wing of the Korydallos Prison, when protected witness E is expected to testify.