Athens (EFE)
“Greeks for the Homeland” was founded by former neo-Nazi deputy Ilías Kasidiaris, currently in prison for leading a criminal gang.
The Court excluded the formation thanks to a law that the Greek Parliament approved in February and that prevents any party whose “real leadership” is exercised by individuals convicted of crimes such as committing terrorist acts or belonging to criminal groups or terrorists.
Kasidiaris, 42, is a former deputy of the Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, which became the third largest political force in the country and whose leadership was prosecuted in 2020.
According to surveys, if his formation participated in the elections, it would receive 4% of the votes, thus exceeding the threshold of 3% necessary to obtain parliamentary representation.
After the law was approved in February, Kasidiaris resigned as party president and his position was taken by former Greek military officer Dimitris Chatziliadis, while he presented himself as a simple candidate, which was considered a maneuver to avoid possible exclusion from the elections.
A sequel to Golden Dawn
However, according to the Greek media, the Supreme Court magistrates considered that the “real leadership” of the formation is still exercised by Kasidiaris and that this is “a continuation of Golden Dawn”, since it included several former members of the neo-Nazi party on its ballots. .
The Athens Court of Appeals declared Golden Dawn a “criminal organization” in 2020 and imposed 13 years in prison on seven members of its leadership, including Ilías Kasidiaris.
Despite this, the extremist founded “Greeks for the Homeland” in 2020 and in recent years tried to gain support especially through social networks.
The law that made it possible to exclude his party was approved in February with the votes of the ruling party, the conservative New Democracy and the Pasok-Kinal Social Democrats.
The main opposition party, the leftist Syriza, abstained, arguing that the law contains “generalizations” that could lead to the exclusion of left-wing parties from elections in the future.