Following years of hearings and legal procedures, the Greek justice system has found the leadership of neo-Nazi gang, Golden Dawn, guilty of criminal organisation.

Thousands of anti-fascist protesters gathered in the Greek capital to follow the verdict, which included the case of the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, a 34-year-old rapper and anti-racism campaigner who was stabbed to death in 2013, in Athens.

Many cheered and cried tears of joy after the verdict, including Fyssas’s mother. Sentencing will follow at a later date.

One of those found guilty is the MEP Ioannis Lagos, a former member of the Golden Dawn but currently sits as an independent in the European Parliament.

Speaking in Athens outside the courthouse, MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, Dimitrios Papadimoulis (Syriza, Greece) hailed the verdict and described it as a “historic decision.”

“Today is a good day for democracy and justice. The struggle for the uprooting of Nazism and Fascism continues,” he added, offering our solidarity to the friends and families of the victims of fascism in Greece and around the world.