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A political “earthquake” has been caused by the statements of the former minister Stavros Kontonis who announced his resignation from the party’s Central Committee, denouncing, among other things, the changes introduced in the penal code by the SYRIZA government, which -apparently- will have an impact. and the amount of penalties to be announced in the next few hours for members of the Golden Dawn criminal organization.
Yesterday’s landmark court ruling on members of the Golden Dawn criminal organization may be the first justification for victims of murderous attacks in recent years, but it appears that members of the neo-Nazi group face shorter sentences than before the changes. . in the Penal Code that were made during the SYRIZA government. 
What the new Penal Code provides
According to the Penal Code, Nikos Michaloliakos and the other six former members of the neo-Nazi organization who were found guilty of leading and joining a criminal organization face sentences of five to fifteen years, while in case of extenuating circumstances, something that will be clear. within the day – then the sentence frame starts at 2 years and reaches 8 years.
It is also noteworthy that with the changes in the Penal Code, the members of the criminal organization are not deprived of their political rights.
According to the previous Penal Code, the sentence for leading a criminal organization was 10 to 20 years, while the final sentence resulted in 10 years of deprivation of civil rights, which means the deprivation of office for the deputies, prohibition of participation in electoral processes, etc.
With the new Penal Code approved by SYRIZA, the sentence was limited to 5 to 15 years, while the crime in question was excluded from the list of crimes that result in the deprivation of civil rights, which means free participation in the elections.
The situation is characterized by legal ambiguity as to whether the authors can retain their position.
Article 60 of the new Penal Code establishes: “If the offender has been sentenced to prison, the court may impose the deprivation of a public office or a public or administrative office if his act constitutes a serious breach of his functions.”
“Massacre” in Parliament for the political rights of Golden Dawn members
Tension prevailed in Parliament a few hours ago on the occasion of the provisions of the new penal code for the political rights of convicted members of a criminal organization.
Deputy Interior Minister Theodoros Libanios, speaking in Parliament, stressed that there will be an amendment to the issue of civil rights and that a law will soon be passed – as he said – so that members of the Golden Dawn cannot stand for election.
For his part, Giannis Ragousis on behalf of SYRIZA stated that a proposal is being made to the Minister of the Interior to present an amendment for the deprivation of the political rights of the criminals of Golden Dawn before noon.
Speaking to ANT1, Stavros Kontonis, after saying that the official opposition party no longer meets the needs of society, directed his arrows at SYRIZA in the context of the changes made to the Penal Code.
The former Minister of Justice said, among other things, that he disagrees with several points of the new Penal Code, “which is 70% positive reform.” He said, however, that there were provisions on which he had strongly disagreed and had said that if certain points are not changed, he will not bring it up in Parliament for discussion.
“Legislation exposes SYRIZA”
He added that he had said publicly then that this legislation exposes the government (SYRIZA). In a press release that the government had been accused at the time that some changes could affect ongoing serious problems, and when asked if it had considered the Golden Dawn case, Kontonis said that it had thought about it and that journalists also they had written articles.
He said that he had identified “some serious problems, provisions with which he did not agree” and added that today he can say that “some of these changes have to do with yesterday’s decision and subsequent sentences that the court will not impose because it no longer they exist in the Penal Code “.
“First of all, the criminal treatment of the leader of the criminal organization is the same as that of the members and I considered this problematic. “The second thing that I consider much more serious and I had put it is that with the changes in the Penal Code, there are no more deprivations of civil rights,” he said.
“The political responsibility of the government is the changes in the Penal Code”
“I don’t think the changes were made to drop to a minimum,” Kontonis said. He noted that the criminal codes were not drawn up by the government but by the drafting committee, “but the political responsibility for the introduction for discussion of the codes rests with the respective government,” he added. I say that because it had identified problems, it had said that if the committee does not make changes, the government cannot present it in parliament for discussion. ” 
On the counterattack, ND – puts Tsipras in the frame
ND After the attacks, Kontoni went on the counterattack by framing former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
“The statements of the former Minister of Justice of the SYRIZA government, S. Kontonis, prove the blatant cynicism and bottomless hypocrisy of Mr. Tsipras,” adds ND.
Yesterday he was outside the Court of Appeals asking for the conviction of the executives of Golden Dawn, while as Prime Minister he dealt with “falling into the soft.” “Starting with today’s revelation, many things are explained, and mainly, why this case got stuck in its mandate.” 
KINAL: Changes in favor of Golden Dawn are an important issue for SYRIZA leadership
“An important political and moral issue for SYRIZA’s leadership is created by Mr. Kontonis’s statements today,” KINAL said, denouncing the main opposition party.
According to KINAL, “their statements show that the changes introduced in the penal code by the Government of SYRIZA, with the consent of Mr. Tsipras, lead to the deprivation of their political rights to the leadership of the criminal organization Golden Dawn.” .
In fact, given that Mr. Kontonis claims that he had pointed this out, it appears that the choice of these unacceptable changes was entirely conscious. That is why they are responsible. ” 
What Kontonis said in 2019 about the Penal Code
Stavros Kontonis argued in 2019 that with the new Penal Code he is exposed to the government, as he said, the proposals of the drafting committee are binding on the Government and there can be no significant changes, citing a number of controversial provisions and proposed changes.
In fact, he left tips for his successor, noting that when he was the same Minister of Justice who had in his hands the conclusion of the committee drafting changes, which, as he pointed out, he did not promote so as not to cause harm to the Government, at least in terms of impressions. period.
Regarding the reduction of sentences, he said that we should see it as a whole. “In some cases I agree, in others I do not agree,” adding that he considers it “unacceptable” to halve the sentence of the head of a criminal organization. “The fact that this was combined with the Golden Dawn trial is news,” he added, noting at the time that “the government had no intention of doing so.”
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