The announcement by Ilias Kasidiaris, convicted in the Golden Dawn criminal organization trial, that he intends to found a new political party and contest elections has sparked fierce reactions from across the political spectrum. Opposition parties described his release as “blasphemy” and a “provocation,” particularly given that it came just three days before the anniversary of the murder of Pavlos Fyssas. Kasidiaris walked free on Tuesday (15/9) to a crowd of supporters waiting outside Domokos Prison, chanting slogans in his support. His announcement that on Monday (21.09.2026) he will unveil the name and program of his new party has reignited debate over whether he can legally form a party or stand as a candidate in the upcoming elections — a question that ultimately rests with the Supreme Court.
PASOK on Kasidiaris: “Democracy knows how to protect itself”
PASOK-KINAL, through its spokesperson K. Tsoukalas, stated that the Supreme Court has already ruled that a person convicted of such offences cannot serve as either the de facto or formal leader of a political party.
“These issues have been settled by the Supreme Court, which has ruled that someone convicted of such offences cannot be either the de facto or the formal leader of a party. Democracy knows how to protect itself. This is not a matter of beliefs or what they are. Here we have ideas that turn into violence. We have convictions for very serious criminal offences and an expressed will to violently overthrow the political order. Our position is crystal clear. We are a party that, without any asterisks, has held since 2014 a very firm position that a united front must be formed and democracy must defend itself,” Tsoukalas stated.
«Η δημοκρατία γνωρίζει να αυτοπροστατεύεται. Εδώ έχουμε καταδίκες για πάρα πολύ βαριά ποινικά αδικήματα και για μία εκπεφρασμένη, στην ουσία, βούληση βίαιης κατάλυσης του πολιτεύματος».
•Συνέντευξη @kdtsoukalas -> @parapolitika901 📎 Link στο πρώτο σχόλιο pic.twitter.com/tXgJeuVwu6— ΠΑΣΟΚ – Κίνημα Αλλαγής (@pasok) September 15, 2026
SYRIZA: The right bears enormous responsibility
The reaction from SYRIZA-PS was equally forceful. Parliamentary group leader Rena Dourou described Kasidiaris’s release just three days before the anniversary of the Fyssas murder as “a monument to blasphemy,” while laying blame squarely on the right for incorporating far-right positions into its agenda.
“The more the far-right locust plague spreads across Europe, the more we see the need for a realignment of progressive forces,” she said, placing the issue within a broader European context.
The party’s spokesperson, Giorgos Panagiotópoulos, broadened the debate to its social dimension, arguing that “it is government policies of impoverishment that create figures like Kasidiaris in Greece,” while stressing that fascism cannot be an answer to anger and despair.
SYRIZA’s message reached its most pointed in two phrases from Dourou: the party, she said, will lead the charge to ensure that “the Nazis are pushed to the margins of political life” and that “we will crush the serpent’s egg once again.”
Communist Party: Release is a “provocation” — “Equating fascism with communism empowers figures like Kasidiaris”
Speaking from the floor of Parliament, Communist Party (KKE) General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas directed his fire at both the European Union and the government, targeting what he called the “two extremes” theory and the equation of fascism with communism. He noted with sharp irony that those who adopt this framing simultaneously present themselves as champions against fascism.
The release of Kasidiaris “is a provocation against the victims of Golden Dawn and their families,” the party stated, pointing out that nearly the entire leadership of the criminal organization had already been released.
Koutsoumbas was even blunter in his parliamentary address. “On the one hand, the system inflates him, and on the other, it exploits him,” he said, rejecting the portrayal of neo-Nazi forces as “anti-establishment.”
The KKE also assigns responsibility to both the Mitsotakis government and the previous Tsipras government for the extensive delays in the trial, which, as the party notes, concluded after 11 years and has still not reached a final, unappealable verdict. In the same vein, the party questions whether the problem can be addressed solely through legislative and judicial tools, arguing that the roots of fascism run far deeper.
New Left: “Suits won’t erase Golden Dawn”
New Left, responding to Kasidiaris’s release, emphasized that walking out of prison “in no way amounts to political acquittal,” nor can it lead to collective amnesia about Golden Dawn’s criminal record.
“The history of the Nazi criminal organization and its leading figures will not be erased by the suits they choose to wear,” the party underlined.
The party went on to warn that behind new names, symbols, and electoral vehicles, the same ideological core may remain intact. It also attacked the government, accusing it of “washing its hands” of responsibility in the face of Kasidiaris’s comeback. The party’s position was summed up in three phrases: “No legitimization, no whitewashing, no normalization of Nazis.”
Greek Left Alliance: “It’s not enough to keep him off television”
In an intervention on OPEN TV, deputy spokesperson of the Greek Left Alliance (ELAS) Nikos Nyfoudis stated: “Fascism and far-right extremism feed on the failures of the political system. Fascism and far-right extremism are a social parasite that thrives on the political system’s failure to create the conditions in which citizens can live well in their country.”
He stressed that as a political system, there is an enormous responsibility “to create the conditions in which citizens feel safe.”
He elaborated: “We cannot focus only on what Mr. Kasidiaris is doing. We need to look at what New Democracy has done over these seven years — beyond the memorandums — and what conditions it has created so that the average Greek family does not feel insecure. Insecurity that drives people toward extreme politics. That makes them support extreme forces like the far right, because they can no longer survive.”
On behalf of the Greek Left Alliance, he added: “We trust in the justice system. We believe that the first-instance ruling, which convicts him until 2033 — regardless of his current release, which pertains to his imprisonment, not his political rights — will be upheld. We believe that justice will do what the Supreme Court should have done, and will not allow him to stand as a candidate.”
Ilias Kasidiaris: “I will return to the front line of national struggles”
From the very first moments outside Domokos Prison, Ilias Kasidiaris made clear that he intends to turn his release into a full political comeback. Shortly before noon on Tuesday (15.09.2026), he passed through the prison gates to dozens of waiting supporters chanting “Ilia remember, we are with you” and “Ilia, we love you.”
“I had given you my word that the moment I walked through this gate, I would return to the front line of national struggles,” Kasidiaris declared, effectively previewing his next move.
Those gathered responded with chants of “Here he is, here he is, the prime minister,” while Kasidiaris claimed to already have behind him “a great national party like those that dominate across Europe.” He stated that his goal is “to free the country from the most corrupt government of the post-junta era” and accused his political opponents of “crying and conspiring” to keep him out of Parliament.
“In a democracy, there is only one judge — the sovereign Greek people,” he declared, announcing that on Monday he will address the public to present the name and program of his new political formation. His release came after serving his sentence, with his actual time in prison calculated at approximately seven years: six years from October 2020 and roughly a year and a half of pre-trial detention from 2013, with the remainder offset by work credits accumulated during his imprisonment.
