A sitting Member of the European Parliament, Giannis Lagos, has told an Athens appeals court that he is a NazI and asked if he was going to be judged for that.
In an outburst while a witness was giving evidence about an incident involving the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn group in the northwestern city of Ioannina in 2009, convicted criminal and former Golden Dawn leading figure Ioannis Lagos shouted: “I’m a Nazi! Are you going to judge me for that?”
Lagos became irate when the witness, local history researcher Alexandros Raptis, referred to the vandalism of Ioannina’s old synagogue Jewish cemetery.
“Is this trial not political? … You’re pushing me to my limits with these questions! I’m a national socialist! Stop making fools of yourselves. Just condemn me and be done with it,” Lagos said.
A lawyer representing Golden Dawn’s victims at the trial said that Lagos’ outburst was significant as it was the first time that one of the people convicted in the case had openly admitted being a Nazi.
A former leading member of Golden Dawn, Lagos was an MP for the group from 2012 and 2019, when he became an MEP. Shortly afterwards, Lagos quit the group and formed a new entity called National Popular Consciousness.
In October 2020, Lagos was sentenced by a Greek court to 13 years and 8 months’ imprisonment for his membership and leading role in the Golden Dawn group. [AMNA]
