In what is being described as an important development in the move to outlaw Golden Dawn, special magistrates investigating charges that the party constitutes a criminal organisation have requested parliament lift immunity for the remaining 9 MPs that until today have not been subject to legal proceedings.

The party entered parliament for the first time following the 2012 elections with 18 MPs. A crackdown against the party which is known to have paramilitary-type units and has been widely implicated in violent episodes and immigrant murders began in the autumn following the fatal stabbing of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a member of the group.

Subsequent police raids on the homes of MPs and party officials have found numerous weapons as well as evidence of military type training exercises conducted by the group’s members. In recordings found on computer hard drives Michaloliakos and other members are seen giving Nazi-style salutes and advocating violence against political opponents.

Six of the group’s eighteen MPs, including Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos, have been imprisoned pending trial. A further three have been released but face charges including Golden Dawn spokesperson Ilias Kasidiaris who has stated that he will run for the position of mayor of Athens in May’s municipal elections.

Now according to reporting by skai.gr (link in Greek) in a 100 page document sent to parliament, the special magistrates are requesting the lifting of parliamentary immunity for the remaining 9 of the party’s MPs, in order for them to be prosecuted under the criminal charge of participating in the establishment of a criminal organisation.

The magistrates have also requested parliamentary permission be given in order for Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos and other MPs to face additional charges of illegal possession of weapons and explosives with the intent of supplying them to a criminal group.

In detail: the Golden Dawn MPs already imprisoned pending trial are:

Nikolaos Michaloliakos
Christos Pappas
Giorgos Germenis
Ioannis Lagos
Efstathios (Stathis) Boukouras
Panagiotis Iliopoulos

Those released on bail pending trial are:

Ilias Kasidiaris
Ilias Panagiotaros
Nikolaos Michos

The remaining MPs who magistrates are now seeking to prosecute are:

Eleni Zaroulia (wife of Nikos Michaloliakos)
Nikos Kouzelos
Antonis Gregos
Polyvios Zisimopoulos
Konstantinos Barbaroussis
Chrysovalantis Alexopoulos
Dimitrios Koukoutsis
Artemi Mattheopoulos
Michalis Arvanitis