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The parliamentary immunity of Golden Dawn’s deputies has been removed

27 September 2012 / 22:09:12  GRReporter
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The Greek Parliament's Commission on Ethics required the removal of the parliamentary immunity of deputy Konstantinos Barbarousis, who is a member of the extreme nationalist party Golden Dawn.

In early September, he took part in Golden Dawn’s self-initiated check of documents of vendors in the public market of Mesologi. Konstantinos Barbarousis was in the group of "inspectors" and he was present when the party members were destroying the stalls of immigrants, who did not possess all the required documents. The party’s position was that if the police and the authorities were not doing their job, someone had to deal with the problems of illegal immigration. Golden Dawn started a campaign under the name "AN END to illegal trade," which aims to clean up the markets of vendors, who are not Greeks and do not have the proper documents.

A similar campaign took place during the fair in Rafina, where after a march, the party members inspected vendors’ documents. At the end, the activists of Golden Dawn destroyed the erected stalls under the supervision of the deputies. Commenting on the act, Golden Dawn’s spokesman Elias Kasidiaris told SKAI TV, "We did not break any stalls, it is just that some goods found themselves on the ground."

The Supreme Administrative Court asked the Commission on Ethics to initiate the removal of parliamentary immunity of the other two deputies from Golden Dawn - George Germenis and Panagiotis Iliopoulos. They are the main characters of the excesses in the market in Rafina and are now accused of inciting violence and of moral responsibility for the destruction of another person's property. The commission will trigger the process next week.

Meanwhile, Dora Bakogiannis’ parliamentary immunity was also removed, but at her request. On the day of the vote just before the procedure itself, Bakogiannis called out from the floor of the National Assembly: "Please, with all the power of my voice, vote "for" the removal of my parliamentary immunity."

Unlike Golden Dawn’s vandals, Bakogiannis is firm that any shadow on her name has to be removed and that is why she will not take advantage of her parliamentary immunity. Prosecutor Konstantinos Tzavelas has started proceeding against her husband Isidoros Kouvelos, who was accused of direct assistance for filing a false tax return. It allegedly did not specify a transaction of one million dollars. As revealed, the money was obtained in the USA from the sale of shares. This amount was transferred to a Greek bank, which sent it to London for the purchase of a cargo ship for Kouvelos’ business. He is a well-known ship merchant and has been operating in the UK and USA for decades. His activity is declared and the charge of concealment of funds will not stand in court, Bakogiannis insists.

 

Tags: PoliticsParliamentary immunityBakogiannisGolden Dawn
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