Lawmaker of extremist right-wing Golden Dawn Christos Pappas, center, who the prosecution has described as the party’s second in command, is escorted by anti-terror police to appear in court for his preliminary hearing in Athens, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. Nikos Michaloliakos, the head of Greece’s extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party was jailed early Thursday, pending trial on charges of running a criminal organization in an investigation into his political party triggered by the killing of a left-wing rapper. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The head of Greece’s Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party and one of his lawmakers have been locked up in a maximum-security Athens prison, after judges ordered their detention pending trial on charges of running a criminal organization.
Nikos Michaloliakos, 56, and Yiannis Lagos will be held in a secluded section of the Korydallos Prison’s women’s section, without contact with any other prisoners.
Ironically, their cells are close to, but isolated from, those where convicted members of the far-left November 17 terrorist group are held.
Michaloliakos was ordered to remain in custody earlier Thursday.
Another four Golden Dawn lawmakers have been arrested in an investigation sparked by the Sept. 17 fatal stabbing of an anti-fascist musician. All deny wrongdoing.
The extremist party is the third most popular in depression-ravaged Greece.
