Greece’s parliament on Wednesday approved a law barring the jailed ex-spokesman of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn from heading a new nationalist party in upcoming national elections. The move has been controversial in Greece, with the country’s communist party saying the law would create a dangerous precedent for other parties, and legal experts warning it could be tricky to apply in practice. The proposed law blocks parties “whose de facto leader is someone convicted as a criminal” from running in elections, Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. “Democracy has a moral obligation to protect itself from its enemies” and “cannot fund organisations that openly undermine its operations,” the prime minister told his cabinet ahead of the vote. The small nationalist party Hellenes was formed in 2020 by Ilias Kasidiaris, the 42-year-old former spokesman and lawmaker of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, a few months before he was sent to prison. Kasidiaris was among several top Golden Dawn members handed heavy prison sentences in October 2020 by a court that labelled the neo-Nazi party a criminal organisation. He was among nearly 60 Golden Dawn members who were convicted in 2020 of the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas and other crimes including murder, assault and running a criminal organisation. The hot-tempered former food scientist — who was a lawmaker from 2012 to 2019 — was sentenced to 13.5 years behind bars. But this has not stopped him from preaching to his supporters through voice messages from prison and running a YouTube channel with over 120,000 followers. Another former Golden Dawn MP, Constantinos Barbaroussis, and several active and retired army officers are among the cadres of the new Hellenes party.
via france24: Greek MPs bar jailed neo-Nazi from leading new party in election