The decision was taken in an electrifying parliamentary session, where Mihaloliakos shouted to lawmakers to “shut up,” and then accused the ruling conservative New Democracy party, as well as judicial officials, of persecuting them and building a case without any substantial and solid evidence.
Before the vote, the three MPs arrived in three separate vehicles, under heavy security measures and the moment that Nikos Michaloliakos began entering the parliament building, relatives and GD supporters rushed to meet him, urging him to expose and ridicule the “system”. When he was approached by members of the Parliamentary Guard, Michaloliakos shouted at them: “Don’t you dare touch me.”
During his speech in Parliament, the GD leader raged against the political system and made quite a few revelations, that should not be ignored.
(But knowing how Greece's mainstream media operates, don't expect to hear these statements being broadcasted on any nightly news stories. We here at HellasFrappe guarantee you that they will nick, pick and edit all the information so that it matches their interests.)
"You put handcuffs on the leader of Greece's third political party. It was a trick, to bring our electoral support down to 2%, as the Baltakos tape showed. Instead, 100,000 more voters came to Golden Dawn!” he exclaimed.Aside from noting what he described as the “Venizelos and Samaras dictatorship” and calling on the “sad minority government” to leave because it is dangerous for the nation, he also shockingly revealed that two more Ministers were holding secret talks with Golden Dawn MPs.
Mihaloliakos, who is facing charges of joining and directing a criminal organisation, claimed he had been in contact with the director of the prime minister’s press office, George Mouroutis.
"On my two mobile phones, seized by the counter terrorism unit, there was one more name and some phone calls. Should I reveal the name? George Mouroutis. He also wanted to keep in touch," he said.(It should be noted that George Mouroutis is the director of Antonis Samaras' press office.)
He also claimed two more ruling New Democracy party ministers had been holding secret meetings with him outside parliament.
"They wanted to win us over."Later on, and following the revealtions from Michaloliakos, Mouroutis announced on the social networks that he has never met with any Golden Dawn members and/or MPs.
"I've never met Mihaloliakos in my lfe," Mouroutis said in a post in his facebook page.Here are a few more of the statements/revelations that were made:
"Nor have I ever met any other Golden Dawn lawmaker of official, privately or by accident. It's the biggest lie I've ever heard," he added.
- You are a sad minority government, you put me into prison for no reason. I’m an unrepentant nationalist and proud member of the Golden Dawn and you will never change me
- You are guilty of orchestrating a political conspiracy, manufacturing charges based on poll results
- I do not fear prison, my handcuffs are a badge of honor, I'm even willing to die in prison
- You were searching for an “arsenal”, what did you find?
- Where is the black money you were talking about?
- You haven’t done anything to find the murderers of Kapelonis and Fountouli (Golden Dawn members)
- I met Baltakos as a student in 1973. I Know him better than anyone
- Corrupt newspapers published fake identity (manifesto) of the Golden Dawn party.
- In the European Elections referendum you received 31%, 2% less than former King of Greece (at the referendum of 1946 to abolish monarchy). You should leave, you are not welcome here.
- I invite the 536,000 Greek citizens who have supported us to give a battle to help tumble this government
In short, he blasted the conservative New Democracy for hypocrisy, and said that his party was being prosecuted for its popularity with the people. He charged an unconstitutional coup, with government pressure on the judiciary, to declare Golden Dawn illegal and its MPs as criminals.
Basically he said that both the conservative New Democracy party as well as the PASOK party should be prosecuted as criminal organizations for clashes that were committed by their own supporters in the past -some of which proved to be deadly- and he then specifically named Makis Voridis during his tenure are leader of the pro-dictatorship nationalist EPEN party.
Trying to prove New Democracy–Golden Dawn cooperation, Michaloliakos said that former cabinet secretary and Samaras confidant Takis Baltakos had told him in a face-to-face meeting exactly what he had told Golden Dawn MP Elias Kassidiaris on tape – that there was politically motivated government influence in the prosecution of the party.
He then said that “Greece has a politically unstable Prime Minister” and professed that aside from Takis Baltakos, many more New Democracy officers have attempted to approach Golden Dawn, but his members remained true to their ideas. In his speech he even attempted to show that Baltakos had a long history in Greece's far right, and that in 1973 the two men met in the office of the ultra-nationalist EOKA B Cyprus militia headed by General George Grivas and then directly controlled by the colonel's junta in Greece.
The leader of GD concluded his speech by saying that that he is not afraid of prison and that he is “an unrepentant nationalist”.
“You are a sad minority government, you put me into prison for no reason. I’m an unrepentant nationalist and proud member of the Golden Dawn and you will never change me,” said the far-right leader.Regarding some of the criminal charges against him, Michaloliakos admitted to owning a weapon, but he claimed this was for his own personal protection, because he has been a target of terrorists (and then he cited the shooting of two members of the GD party in Neo Herakleio). He then noted that this includes two guns and a rifle possessed by himself and Corinth MP Stathis Boukouras, respectively.
Regarding the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas, Michaloliakos underlined that he could not have possibly been involved in the call that was made after the murder to the Golden Dawn offices -and which is the basis of the charges against him- since he was not at the party headquarters. Instead, he noted counter-terrorism officials and a prosecutor were there conducting an inspection inside GD's headquarters.
On his part, Christos Pappas said that “Greece has a politically unstable Prime Minister.” Rejecting the charges against him and noting that he was being persecuted for his political beliefs Pappas spoke of “sick, neo-democratic minds” conspiring against a legal political party. In his speech he argued that New Democracy was trying to recruit members of his party, citing the Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis who stated that he would “prefer [his] son to be a Golden Dawn supporter, rather than a SYRIZA supporter and communist”.
Before the vote, a speech was also made by Mr. Lagos who stressed that Golden Dawn is going to prevail, and backed this up by referring to the recent triple election results. Commenting on the charges against him and other GD members, he argued that the trial will not happen because the so-called evidence against his party is clearly "based on hatred”, noting that there is a judicial bias against Golden Dawn.
In reference to the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, Lagos stated that he cannot be accused of inciting murder and that he is instead being punished for supporting and being a Golden Dawn MP.
After the three Golden Dawn MPs finished their speeches in parliament, the Minister of Justice Charalambos Athanasiou took the stand and stated that the accused MPs would have a fair trial.
(Editor's Note: Our opinion has not altered and in total agreement with the comments made by Nikos Hatzinikolaoy's in the video below. The leader of a legally elected party cannot be jailed and the Parliament cannot vote on lifting his immunity months later. This should have happened before he entered Parliament. If Evangelos Venizelos continues to pressure Antonis Samaras in the opposite direction, or if any other force (s) attempts to do the same, then it is one hundred percent certain that Golden Dawn's popularity will soar with the people even more. There must be transparency at all levels, and PASOK -which has been the driving force behind GD's persecution- should not even dare to speak since it has yet to deal with its own scruples. Let us not forget that some of the largest scandals to date in this country have been committed by PASOK members. To our dismay, so does the New Democracy party which once again is allowing the forces of the Left to cloud its logic and drag it by the nose.)
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