Golden Dawn law suits put leftist and ex-rector on trial

A left-wing intellectual and the ex-rector of the National Technical University of Athens are to stand trial on September 3 as a result of law suits filed by far-right Golden Dawn, it emerged on Thursday.

The neo-Nazis filed a suit in 2009 against Savvas Michail, the general secretary of the Workers Revolutionary Party, a tiny Trotskyist group. They accused him of defamation, incitement to violence and breach of the peace in connection to an article published in his party newspaper, which urged readers to “smash fascism.”

NTUA rector Constantinos Moutzouris was accused of allowing the anti-establishment Indyemedia website to operate from the university’s premises.

Moutzouris has already been cleared of such charges twice. It is not clear what prompted prosecutors to bring the cases to court.

“We are seeing the criminalization of political action and the idea of collective responsibility is being strengthened,” Michail told Kathimerini.