Ioannis (Giannis) Lagos (; born 7 September 1972) is a Greek convicted

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

and far-right politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

from

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. At the time of his election, Lagos was a member of the Greek

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

and

ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...

political party and criminal organization Golden Dawn. He had been a member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

for the Piraeus B constituency from May 2012 until his election as an MEP. On 7 October 2020, Lagos was found guilty of running Golden Dawn, and a number of other serious offences, including orchestrating the fatal stabbing of Pavlos Fyssas and many violent attacks on migrants and left-wing political opponents. Subsequently, he was sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Political career

He has served for a number of years as a member of the

for the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn between 2012 and 2019, and was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

on the party's ticket before announcing that he would sit as an

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a few days after being sworn in as an MEP on 2 July 2019. He and other former Golden Dawn MPs and members founded a splinter party on 9 November 2019. On 2 March 2022, he was one of 13 MEPs who voted against condemning the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Anti-Turkish notions

In January 2020, Lagos tore down the

flag of Turkey The national flag of Turkey, officially the Turkish flag (), is a red flag featuring a white crescent and star on its emblem, based on the 18th-century Ottoman Empire flag. The flag is often called "the red flag" (), and is referred to as "the ...

during a speech at the European Parliament on illegal migration, accusing

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

of sending illegal immigrants to

. The action received criticism from Turkish and Greek officials, including Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Grand National Assembly. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), Minister o ...

and the

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. He was later fined by the European Parliament for his actions.

Criminal activities

His actions with Golden Dawn have twice led to his arrest and detention on charges of forming a criminal organization, while he is also allegedly involved in the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, which led to his conviction, along with many other members, on October 7, 2020, as one of the leaders of the criminal gang. On September 13, 2019, he was sentenced to another eight months in jail with suspension for the attack on the social space "Συνεργείο" in 2013 and an extra 13 years in October 2020 for leading a criminal organisation, resulting in a prison sentence of 13 years. On October 19, 2020, Greek authorities submitted a request to the European Parliament to have Giannis Lagos'

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians or other political leaders are granted full immunity from legal prosecution, both civil prosecution and criminal prosecution, in the course of the exe ...

lifted in order to prosecute him. The immunity has been removed on April 27, 2021, opening to his extradition to Greece.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagos, Ioannis 1972 births Living people MEPs for Greece 2019–2024 Golden Dawn (political party) MEPs Golden Dawn (political party) politicians Greek politicians convicted of crimes Greek prisoners and detainees People from Piraeus Politicians from Piraeus Prisoners and detainees of Greece