Fugitive Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) top cadre and former deputy Christos Pappas was arrested in an east Athens district on Thursday evening.

Pappas disappeared early last October shortly after he was convicted in a marathon trial that resulted in a verdict designating the ultra-right party was a criminal organization.

The 60-year-old fugitive was handed down a 13-year jail sentence for leading a criminal organization.

The arrest of Golden Dawn fugitive Christos Pappas elicited a late-night statement by the government spokeswoman on Thursday, who referred to the last chapter for the extremist party, declared a criminal organization by a court last year and viewed by most quarters as a neo-Nazi formation.

“Greek democracy struggled and expelled the toxic poison of Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn). Rule of law stood firm against these criminals. With the arrest of Christos Pappas a final chapter has been written for the extremist party,” spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni said.

Pappas, 60, was arrested in the middle-class Zografou district of east Athens in a residence belonging to a 52-year-old woman.

The latter was described as a recently naturalized Greek citizen originally from the Ukraine.
He vanished from sight after being convicted and handed down a 13-year sentence last October.

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