Kostis Papaioannou is by his own admission, a far right junkie. Documenting the twists and turns of Golden Dawn, the Greek neo-fascist party whose rise and fall took Europe by storm, gets him “fired up”.
Yet little prepared Papaioannou, who has written several books about the extremists, for his latest endeavour: charting the days when two of the now defunct political force’s convicted leaders would remain at large. “It’s incredible,” said the prominent human rights activist. “Rather than ticking off the days they spend behind bars I’m now calculating their time spent savouring freedom.”
Three months after the trial of Golden Dawn – the largest court hearing of Nazis since Nuremberg – the idea that two members of its hierarchy would still be enjoying the fruits of liberty, has elicited outrage and embarrassment.
