By Penelope Galliou

In a political thriller, with unknown consequences for its protagonists, it is now reminiscent of the scene, as it takes shape with the new upheavals, inside the Spartan party. The upheaval in the intra-party debate and the attempt to “forget” everything and return to the previous situation, began to be seen early on, yesterday, when during the communication that SKAI had with one of the deputies who became independent, the George Manousos, it appeared that he was willing to “back down”, leaving open the possibility, if and when Vassilis Stigas retracted the accusations about the behavior of his deputies “greek mafia”, to return to the party again. A little earlier, the expelled MP Charalambos Katsivardas sent a similar message calling on the president of the Spartans to withdraw the accusations.

And before “alector chanted three” the willingness to compromise on both sides came to confirm the statement – call of the president of the party, Vassilis Stiga, to the MPs who had been deleted from the parliamentary group to return to the ranks of the party. After the meeting that took place between the members of the Spartans Committee, Mr. Stigas in his statement and addressing the MPs, Ioannis Dimitrokallis, Charalambos Katsivardas and Ioannis Kontis, states that “After the mutual explanations that were given on both sides, therefore, I invite you to rejoin as members of K.O. according to the conditions that existed before your deletion”.

In fact, a few hours before testifying today at the Supreme Court’s prosecutor’s office regarding his complaints, on the part of the Parliament, about the “Greek mafia”, the president of the Spartans “erased” all the heavy accusations against his deputies in one fell swoop and after emphasizing that at the meeting, he was appreciated the position of the deputies, and the admission that their non-attendance at the Plenary Session of the Parliament on 31/08/2023, was an oversight for which an apology was sought, he concluded that “therefore, the designations, “Greek Mafia” and “group extortionists”, have nothing to do with any of the deleted or anyone else from our Parliamentary Group”.

Just a few hours earlier, Vassilis Stigas, in a televised interview, exposed to Panhellenic the parliamentarians he deleted, describing tangled relationships, grievances and even money routes, which plagued his party, revealing that the parliamentarian who was deleted had his brother Ilias Kasidiaris as a substitute employee. A revelation that SKAI confirmed by contacting the expelled member of parliament Yiannis Dimitrokallis, who in turn informed that his brother Ilias Kasidiaris is his partner, stating, however, that the collaboration arose without any intervention of the imprisoned Golden Dawn member. “I knew his brother Ilias Kasidiaris from a long time ago, he had all the necessary qualifications and that’s why they chose him as my scientific partner,” he said.

And while the complaints from Stiga’s side continued to his deputies about relations with Ilias Kasidiaris, on the other hand he continued to state that he himself supports him for the municipality of Athens. “If Ilias Kasidiaris had not supported me and the impact he has in the world, I would not have entered the Parliament. The Spartans would not have entered the Parliament. I consider it my duty, an obligation, to support him in this project that makes him come down to the municipality of Athens, and that’s what I did. I closed the circle with Ilias Kasidiaris, he supported me and I supported him” he concluded, continuing the fallacies regarding his own relations with the condemned member of the Golden Dawn.

What is certain is that the “truce” that has arisen – necessarily or not will be seen – within the Spartans, cannot stop the judicial investigation that has been opened for the mutual accusations and the serious complaints that were made even by the steps of the Parliament and they caught the thread of the investigation of any relations of the condemned member of the Golden Dawn Ilias Kasidiaris with the Spartan party. Just as they cannot stop the objections that have been submitted to the electoral court on the same issue, with an unknown outcome and consequences for the party.

However, the unprecedented developments in the internal party field of the Spartans are under the microscope and meetings at the Maximos Palace, with the prime minister’s associates examining all the legal parameters that would lead to a legislative initiative to deal with such unprecedented phenomena. In any case, today’s testimony of Vassilis Stigas at the Areopagus and the judicial turn of the case are expected to play a key role, which is likely in itself to provide a solution to the unknown riddle that hides the Spartan party both for the role of as well as for his headquarters.

The entire statement of Vassilis Stigas on the return of the three expelled MPs to K.O. of the party:

TO: Members of Parliament

Mr. Dimitrokallis Ioannis (Eastern Attica)

Mr. Katsivarda Charalambos (B1′ of the Northern Sector of Athens)
Mr. Konti Ioannis (A’ Thessaloniki)

Honorable Members of Parliament,

following today’s meeting of the Parliamentary Group with me, and following the mutual explanations given on both sides, therefore, I invite you to rejoin as members of the K.O. in accordance with the terms that existed before your deletion.

​At today’s meeting, the position of the deputies was assessed, and the admission that their non-attendance at the Plenary Session of the Parliament on 08/31/2023 was an oversight for which an apology was sought.

Therefore, the designations, “Greek Mafia” and “group of extortionists”, have nothing to do with any of the deleted or anyone else from our Parliamentary Group.

Vasilios Stigas

President K.O. “SPARTAINS”