Ilias Kasidiaris is serving a 13-year sentence over crimes including murder.
ATHENS: One of Greece’s most notorious neo-Nazis, believed to be behind a far-right party that recently entered parliament, was given a five-day leave from prison today, police said.
Ilias Kasidiaris, the former spokesman of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, was released from Domokos prison in central Greece and is required to return Wednesday, police spokesman Constantia Dimoglidou told AFP.
“He is required to report to a police station once daily,” she said.
Kasidiaris, 42, is serving a 13-year prison sentence with other leading members of Golden Dawn over crimes including the murder of an anti-fascist rapper.
The hot-tempered former food scientist – who was a lawmaker from 2012 to 2019 – has preached to his supporters through voice messages from prison and a YouTube channel with more than 140,000 followers.
He sparked a major legal wrangle earlier this year when he tried to run for parliament at the head of a new far-right party, Hellenes.
Despite a ban from the Supreme Court and two legal amendments passed by the government, Kasidiaris endorsed another far-right party, Spartans, which ended up winning over 240,000 votes and 12 seats in parliament.
Earlier this month, Kasidiaris again made headlines by running for Athens mayor.
He picked up over 11,000 votes for a fifth-place finish – 3,000 more votes than a prominent lawyer who helped put him in prison – and elected two municipal councillors.
Kasidiaris is an admirer of the Third Reich and has a swastika tattooed on his left arm.
He once slapped a communist lawmaker on television.
