Greek anti-racists pledge 'watch' on neo-Nazi trial

Greek anti-racism groups on Thursday said they would offer daily coverage of the landmark trial of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn this month to raise awareness of the group?s alleged crimes.

Entitled Golden Dawn Watch, the initiative will use accredited journalists and qualified lawyers to cover and provide analysis of the trial that opens on April 20.

"This is one of the most important trials in modern Greek history," Eleftheria Koumandou, a journalist and coordinator of the Greek observatory against racist speech in media, told reporters.

"This is historic material and we must not miss a single sentence," added Vassiliki Georgiadou, a professor at Panteio University specialising in political extremism and racism.

Around 70 members and alleged supporters of the violently anti-immigrant group will go on trial, most of them facing charges of membership of a criminal organisation, a serious offence in Greece.

Others are accused of murder, conspiracy to murder, possession of weapons and racist violence.

The defendants include party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and around a dozen Golden Dawn parliamentary lawmakers.

Some of the defendants, who include police officers, face sentences of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Golden Dawn says the probe is politically motivated.

Set to take place in a special courtroom inside high security Korydallos prison in west Athens, the trial is expected to last several months.

The organizers said they would follow the model of NSU Watch, a similar initiative in Munich that covers the trial of a three-member neo-Nazi cell that murdered ten people in 2011, mostly Turkish immigrants.

The municipality of Korydallos has called for the trial to be relocated, fearing...