Giorgos Roupakias, the Golden Dawn member who stabbed rapper Pavlos Fyssas to death in 2013, is to be released from custody on March 18.
A council of appeal court judges decided Friday to grant Roupakias conditional release as he has spent the maximum 18 months permissible in pretrial custody, even though his trial, along with other members of the far-right group, is nowhere near completion.
The lack of a dedicated courtroom as well as numerous legal technicalities have meant that the trial has progressed extremely slowly and is not due to be completed before next year. Judge Maria Lepeniotou had warned some months ago that Roupakias and other suspects would be released before the trial has been completed.
Roupakias will be placed under house arrest once he is released from Korydallos Prison and will only be allowed to leave to attend his trial under a police escort.
On Monday Supreme Court president Vassiliki Thanou, who served as caretaker prime minister last September,criticized the Athens Bar Association (DSA) and the Justice Ministry for failing to take action to ensure the trial of Giorgos Roupakias and other Golden Dawn members was completed before their pretrial detention ended.
Thanou also said that the Justice Ministry failed to live up to pledges to find a courtroom where the case could be heard on a daily basis. The trial was held every other day in a special courtroom in Korydallos Prison.
Magda Fyssa, the mother of the murdered man, said she had not expected such delays in the trial. She called on the police to ensure that Roupakias is properly guarded when he is released. “We’d better not find out one day that the murderer has escaped,” she told Mega TV.
