Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adilini on Wednesday sent a request to Parliament, asking permission to summon 11 MPs elected with the Spartiates (Spartans) party to appear before her as suspects for having deceived voters in the recent parliamentary elections.
According to the prosecutor's document, the 11 MPs will be asked to explain their actions on the grounds that, while running for election with the Spartiates party led by Vasilis Stigas, in reality they had the support and were fully guided by jailed former Golden Dawn cadre Ilias Kasidiaris, who is in prison for his role in the leadership of what courts have ruled to be a criminal organisation.
Adilini accused the 11 MPs of "offering the Spartiates party as the mantle of a new political party to Ilias Kasidiaris, thus helping him circumvent legal restrictions on his right to run for office under election law."
They are accused of falsely presenting themselves to voters as ascribing to the values of the Spartiates party led by Stigas, whose organisation and actions meet the criteria outlined under electoral law as serving free democracy. In reality, however, the prosecutor argued, they were selected by Kasidiaris and acknowledged him as their real leader, as he guided their actions from prison.
Adilini launched a criminal investigation into the party's MPs following public denunciations by Stigas, the official leader of Spartiates, of "extraparliamentary centres and underground processes" within his party.
The prosecutor's request concerns the MPs Athanasios Halkias, Haralambos Katsivardas, Georgios Manousos, Alexandros Zerveas, Ioannis Dimitrokallis, Dionysios Valtogiannis, Georgios Aspiotis, Michail Gavgiotakis, Ioannis Kontis, Petros Dimitriadis and Constantinos Floros.