Court to start hearing testimonies of Golden Dawn party members

Testimonies of extreme-right Golden Dawn party members over a series of cases will begin on Thursday, following the last witness testimony provided to the court on Tuesday.

Defendants include MPs and the leader of the party, whose deputies were members of the recently dissolved session of parliament.

Several case files are being examined by the courts under the general charge of the party's operation as a criminal syndicate, including the murder of musician Pavlos Fyssas, 34, in 2013; a ruthless attack against fishermen of Egyptian origin in 2012; and an attack to Communist Party-affiliated PAME labor union in 2013, among others.

The court case opened four years ago and includes a total of 68 defendants. Of these, 65 are facing charges of acquiring membership to and leading a criminal organization. Eighteen (18) of the 65 are either current or past Golden Dawn MPs.

Fyssas' murder will be the first case the defendants will testify on. The leading party members are not expected to be called to testify before September, according to the order of proceedings.

So far, the case has involved 362 court sessions, and testimony has been completed for all plaintiffs (147) and 70 of nearly 230 defending witnesses proposed the accused. Current and former MPs for Golden Dawn provided parliamentary documents on their work and speeches that took 58 sessions to be read in total.

According to current estimates, a court ruling is expected by the end of 2019 or the start of 2020.