GIANNIS LAGOS, the former Golden Dawn and now independent MEP, has lost an appeal against conviction over an attack on a community centre in 2013 in the last outstanding case from a cycle of neonazi violence in Greece from 2008-13.

The decision by the Trilateral Court of Appeal in Athens today found that Mr Lagos was a “moral perpetrator of dangerous bodily harm” and former Golden Dawn MP Nikos Michos was guilty as an accomplice.

Both men were convicted for involvement in the fascist party when Golden Dawn was found to be a criminal organisation last year.

Mr Michos is already serving a six-year sentence, while Mr Lagos was handed 13 years eight months, but remains at liberty thanks to his immunity as a member of the European Parliament.

Lawyers for the fascists’ victims Thanassis Kampagiannis and Dimitris Zotos saluted “a victory for citizens and the local community who intervened, against provocative inaction by the police, and did what prosecutors neglected: collected evidence, took video and photos.”

The attack on the Synergeio community centre came just two months before the neonazi murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas, they pointed out, which was carried out by “the same battalion, even the same physical perpetrators,” highlighting the way “tolerance of fascist and racist violence gives birth to monsters.”

The ruling will strengthen the case against appeals over the convictions in the main Golden Dawn trial last year, the lawyers said, with the suite of convictions meaning anti-fascists are defending “a well-fortified trench.”

They also demanded that the European Parliament lift Mr Lagos’s immunity so he can face justice.