Konstantinos Plevris

rdf:langString Konstantinos Plevris

rdf:langString Konstantinos A. Plevris (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Α. Πλεύρης; born 1939 in Athens), sometimes called in English Constantine Plevris or Kostas Plevris, is a Greek politician, lawyer, nationalist, and neo-fascist author. The prolific writer has, over the course of decades, written a number of books and other texts relating to Greek history, Greek culture, sociology, and politics, with a clear nationalist, homophobic (such as his book titled "Οι Κίναιδοι", a vehement polemic against homosexuals) content. In his book The Jews: The Whole Truth, he described himself as a "Nazi, fascist, racist, anti-democrat, anti-Semite". He was the founder and leader of the Metaxist 4th of August Party and Front Line, with the former political party not only playing a significant role in influencing and shaping the future direction of the Greek extreme right but also being itself as a prominent political movement before the junta in general. He has also co-operated (according to interviews he gave to various publications, including one to Italian magazine L'Europeo in 1976, which were quoted and accepted as proof in a court of law in which he was the plaintiff against the author Nikos Kleitsikas) with various European neo-fascist groups (including the Ordine Nuovo), and figures such as Pino Rauti, Pino Romualdi, Giorgio Almirante. He later briefly joined the right-wing party Popular Orthodox Rally and was its leading candidate in the 2004 elections. He is the father of Thanos Plevris, member of the Greek parliament formerly with the Popular Orthodox Rally party, now with New Democracy. In December 2007, Plevris was initially found guilty of inciting racial hatred by a Greek court based on excerpts and quotations in his book The Jews: The Whole Truth. He appealed the court ruling and on 27 March 2009 the court of appeals overturned the ruling of incitement 4–1. Plevris was cleared on the charge of having caused violence by the five-member court, but it was noted that he was a Holocaust denier. The court justified his acquittal by stating ""The defendant does not revile the Jews solely because of their racial and ethnic origin, but mainly because of their aspirations to world power, the methods they use to achieve these aims, and their conspiratorial activities". The ruling prompted some charges of miscarriage of justice.