The first political "fallout" from Wednesday's landmark court decision characterizing the extreme-right Golden Dawn party as a criminal organization came from an unlikely source a day later, with a former justice minister in the leftist SYRIZA resigning from the party's central committee with stinging references to changes in the country's penal code.
The first political "fallout" from Wednesday's landmark court decision characterizing the extreme-right Golden Dawn party as a criminal organization came from an unlikely source a day later, with a former justice minister in the leftist SYRIZA resigning from the party's central committee with stinging references to changes in the country's penal code.
Stavros Kontonis, in a very high-profile television appearance, first blamed what he called "expressed policies that do not find me in agreement", before revealing that he personally warned then prime minister and current SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras over the pitfalls entailed in revisions of Greece's penal code.
The fast-track legislative changes to the penal code by the previous SYRIZA government were narrowly passed just days before a July 2019 snap election, which the leftists duly lost to conservative New Democracy.
Those revisions, however, were re-scrutinized this week after the convictions handed down to practically all of Golden Dawn's top leadership on felony counts. Among others, the maximum sentence stemming from a conviction for running a criminal organization was trimmed to 15 years in prison, with other favorable provisions - such as early parole based on time served, a convict's age and health -- possibly translating into less than nine years of jail time. Another eyebrow-raising revision in the penal code undertaken by the outgoing Tsipras government was the abolition of a provision that strips convicted felons of their right to vote or stand in elections during their term.
"I had disagreed with the provisions of new penal code...which, by 70 percent, were a positive reform," he said, adding that he very publicly expressed his opposition at the time, and warned that the issue was detrimental to the then SYRIZA government.
Kontonis, considered as emanating from SYRIZA's more radical left wing, served as justice minister between November 2016 and August 2018.
Asked by reporters on a morning news variety program on the Ant1 channel if he believed the proposed revisions could have an impact on the ongoing Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) case, Kontonis said he detected "certain serious problems, namely, provisions with which I disagreed ... certain revisions deal with yesterday's (judicial) decision, and with the additional sentences that the court cannot impose, because they do not exist now in the penal code."
The ex-minister's statements generated a political firestorm throughout much of the day, with the ruling party, ND, referring to "unbridled cynicism and unfathomable hypocrisy" by SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras.
The latter was among the tens of thousands of people outside the main court complex in Athens on Wednesday morning, all waiting for the verdicts to be announced. Tsipras then made a brief comment before waiting television cameras.
"He was outside the appellate court yesterday (Wednesday) demanding the conviction of the Golden Dawn cadres, yet as prime minister he saw to it for them to 'land softly'. Today's revelation explains quite a few things, mainly why this case languished during his (Tsipras) tenure," a ND statement read, using a metaphor that means lessened consequences for one's actions, as well as to the fact that the marathon trial faced repeated delays from 2015 to 2019, when SYRIZA was in power.
Conversely, a reaction by SYRIZA referred to statements (by its ex minister) that "espouse the propaganda and fake news circulated by New Democracy, which are unacceptable and, objectively, serve political interests that are hostile to the left and SYRIZA."