Tasos Kokkinidis
photo credit: AMNA
A European arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday for Christos Pappas, the neo-Nazi former lawmaker who is on the run after his conviction in October of 2020.
Pappas, who was number two in the Golden Dawn party leadership, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his role in the group.
Although police had put the party’s leadership under surveillance before the historic verdict, Pappas somehow was able to disappear.
Greek authorities say that the noose is tightening on Pappas, however.
According to a report on Star TV, Pappas has managed to sneak out of our country and he is hiding in a Serbian monastery.
Police are focusing their investigations on several monasteries in Serbia, which are said to have close relations with Greek monks, according to the report.
Pappas is believed to have fled to North Macedonia with fake IDs, dressed as a monk.
Pappas in Greek Parliament
Pappas served in the Greek Parliament from 2012 until 2019, being elected three times.
In the last election in Greece, on July 7, 2019, Golden Dawn did not garner enough votes to make it into the House.
Pappas is the son of Elias Pappas, an Army officer and a collaborator with the Colonels Junta.
His father was also a founding member of the Golden Dawn extreme rightist party.
A devout nationalist, Christos Pappas was the founder of Helioforos Publications, publishing books with a nationalist content.
He became a close associate of Golden Dawn’s chief Nikos Michaloliakos.
On September 29, 2013, he was remanded into custody on charges of directing a criminal organization, following the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a Golden Dawn member.
In December of the same year, his application for release from prison was rejected.
He was released on March 29, 2015, just eighteen months after his arrest.
Neo-Nazi past
In a search in Pappas’ house in East Ioannina in September of 2013, the police anti-terrorist unit found two unlicensed weapons and a wide range of Nazi memorabilia.
Among other things, the anti-terrorist unit found a picture of Pappas in an SS uniform making a Nazi salute in front of a Nazi flag.
In another picture he is wearing a swastika armband.
Another series of photos show Pappas with his family saluting like Nazis, teaching his three children the Nazi salute.
Another find was two World War II German helmets, one with the SS logo and the other with the swastika, small and large swastika flags, a framed picture of Adolf Hitler with the inscription “Golden Dawn,” and other items.
However, throughout police interviews, Pappas rejected all Neo-Nazi accusations, insisting that he is a Greek nationalist and has nothing to do with Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler.
Published at greekreporter.com
