ATHENS — The Athens Appeals Court conducting the Golden Dawn trial, which reconvened on Thursday at 11:00, is to announce its ruling on whether the sentences of any of those found guilty for the activities of Golden Dawn will be suspended pending appeal or whether they will go straight to jail within the hour.

Presiding judge Maria Lepeniotou said the court had completed all issues with the requests made on Wednesday and will be back in an hour to announce its decisions. There was a strong police presence within the courtroom during the session.

All the defence lawyers have presented their arguments for the suspension of the clients' sentences pending appeal, in line with the prosecutor's recommendation for all barring Giorgos Roupakias, who has been handed down a life sentence for the murder of Pavlos Fyssas.

The session on Thursday began with the prosecutor's address on requests made by former MP Ilias Kasidiaris, who faces 13 years imprisonment for his role in Golden Dawn, which has been ruled a criminal organisation.

The panel of judges has now retired to deliberate and consider their final verdict. Once the court's decisions are announced, the mechanism to arrest any of those who have been sentenced to serve time in prison and are not present in the court room will be mobilised. This will be done on the orders of the prosecutor for the execution of sentences, who will be apprised of the court's rulings.