Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias responded to the prosecution’s charges of joining and participating in a criminal organization, following his established line of defense. The judiciary however was not convinced by his explanations and decided to order that Roupakias also be detained for his participation in a criminal organization.
In yesterday’s deposition he revealed that he met up with a “convoy” of 10-12 motorbikes and 17-18 Golden Dawn members and supporters who were responding to a call for help by another Golden Dawn member. Roupakias named Nikea head Patelis, Kazantzoglou, Tsorvas, Giorgos Dimou and Giorgos Stampelos as being in the assault group.
When he arrived to the scene, he claims to have heard Fyssas taunt him and was allegedly pulled out of his car and assaulted, when he pulled the knife and stabbed blindly. The self-confessed murderer stated that he did not know who Fyssas was and that he acted in self-defense. Curiously, the medical examiner did not report any cuts, bruises or other sings of injuries on Roupakias when he was prosecuted.
After being detained and taken to the Keratsini police department, Roupakias denied ownership of the murder weapon and was not formally arrested. He was placed in a ground-floor room with friends of the recently-slain Fyssas, who were however unaware of his identity. Roupakias later requested to be kept elsewhere. The police allowed Roupakias to keep his mobile phone and he admitted to contacting his wife, sister and Patelis while in custody.
The self-confessed murderer denied being a formal Golden Dawn member, that he never heard anything related to Nazism and that he was not aware of Golden Dawn’s Nazi-inspired salutes. Roupakias denied any knowledge of violent incidents with foreigners in Nikea or elsewhere. Instead he insisted that he had been “recruited” by the Greek Communist Party when he was 13 and left when he was 17.
