Golden Dawn trial: The Court of Appeal sends Eleni Zaroulia to prison – She was also convicted in the second degree

The appellate court rejected the request of Nikos Michaloliakos’ wife to have the 5-year sentence imposed on her for participation in a criminal organization commuted to a fine, so Eleni Zaroulia will have to serve her sentence.

The way to prison was also shown to Eleni Zaroulia by the prosecutor of the Five-Member Criminal Court of Appeal, as, based on relevant case law of the Supreme Court, prison sentences cannot be converted into monetary sentences.

Although the sentence of Nikos Michaloliakos’ wife is one of the shortest imposed in comparison to the other convicts, Eleni Zaroulia is being sent to prison because she has not served a single day of the sentence imposed on her in the first instance.

For former MPs Chrysovalantis Alexopoulos, Michalis Arvanitis, Antonis Gregos, Dimitris Koukoutsis and Efstathios Boukouras, the court decided to suspend the execution of the sentence with the restrictive condition of a ban on leaving the country for three years.

For former MP Nikos Mihos, the court decided to commute his sentence to 5 euros per day.
Thus, of the former MPs, only Eleni Zaroulia – who is not present in court – is sent to prison by the decision of the Five-Member Criminal Appeals Court.

Ilias Kasidiaris, Giannis Lagos and Giorgos Roupakias remain incarcerated, as the others have been released from prison either for health reasons or because they have served the minimum term for conditional release.

Earlier, the requests for recognition of extenuating circumstances submitted by the convicted former Golden Dawn MPs were unanimously rejected.

Among the requests rejected were those of the “directorate” of the criminal organisation, namely Nikos Michaloliakos, Ilias Kasidiaris, Yannis Lagos and others.

Among the requests rejected were those of the “directorate” of the criminal organisation, namely Nikos Michaloliakos, Ilias Kasidiaris, Yannis Lagos and others.

The 5 persons who were granted extenuating circumstances
Exceptions are the cases of former MPs Antonis Gregos and Dimitris Koukoutsis, who were granted the mitigating circumstance of good behaviour after the act.

The same mitigating circumstance was also granted to three other greenwashers who have been convicted as members of a criminal organisation. The decision to grant mitigating circumstances to the five convicted men was taken by a 4-1 majority.