Thousands of people gathered Friday evening in Piraeus, near Athens, where an anti-fascist rapper was killed seven years ago, to the day, by a member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, whose trial is ending on October 7.
At least 3,000 people - relatives, friends of the victim and the demonstrators, according to the police, marched peacefully in the neighborhood where the 34-year-old activist Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed on September 18, 2013.
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Demonstrators demanded that dozens of defendants from the Golden Dawn party be jailed after a long trial.
In this trial, which will have lasted 5 and a half years, the verdict against some 70 leaders and members of Golden Dawn, will be delivered on October 7.
The family of the slain rapper released a statement on Friday calling for public support on the day of the verdict.
“
On October 7, we are waiting for people to flock to the streets in front of the court to cry out that they (the accused) are not innocent,
” read the statement.
In December, the prosecutor created a scandal by demanding the acquittal of the party leaders.
Prosecutor Adamantia Economou then declared that she could not assure that Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos and more than a dozen party members had directly ordered the murder of the anti-fascist activist in 2013.
The murder of Pavlos Fyssas outside a cafe, which occurred in an ambush with suspected supporters of the Golden Dawn party, shocked the country and paved the way for an unprecedented investigation.
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The defendants face between five and 20 years in prison for the 2013 murder and other counts including involvement in a criminal organization.
Based on tapes of telephone conversations between Golden Dawn members on the night of Pavlos Fyssas' murder, the investigating magistrates say party leaders were aware of the attack.
Negationist, disciple of the former Greek dictator Georgios Papadopoulos, Nikos Michaloliakos has always proclaimed his innocence.
He claims that the party was persecuted by the Greek government because of its popularity during the economic crisis in Greece.
In 2015, Golden Dawn was the third party in the country and obtained more than 370,000 votes.