Greek Neo-Nazi Leader Granted Conditional Release From Prison

Nikos Michaloliakos, the head of Greece’s Nazi Golden Dawn party, has been granted conditional release after serving five years of a 13-and-a-half-year prison sentence, according to the state-run ANA news agency.

A judicial council approved the 67-year-old mathematician and Holocaust denier to complete the rest of his sentence under house arrest due to health concerns, ANA reported.

This is the second time Michaloliakos has been released since his 2020 conviction over Golden Dawn’s series of violent assaults targeting immigrants and political rivals.

He was temporarily freed in May 2024 but was later returned to prison when judicial officials concluded he had not demonstrated good behavior.

Golden Dawn members were linked to numerous violent crimes, including the 2013 killings of an anti-fascist musician and a Pakistani laborer, as well as attacks on Egyptian fishermen and Communist union activists.

Founded by Michaloliakos, the ultranationalist and antisemitic party remained on the fringes of Greek politics until the country’s 2010 financial crisis.

Capitalizing on anger over immigration and austerity, the group entered parliament in 2012 and eventually became Greece’s third-largest political force.

Its influence faded sharply after its leader and dozens of members were convicted, with an appeal trial, launched in 2022, still in progress.

Among those still incarcerated is Yiannis Lagos, a former European Parliament member, who lost his immunity and was extradited from Belgium in 2021 to serve a 13-year, eight-month term.