For half a year they have sat in their seventh-floor office, probing the murky depths of Europe's most violent political force. It is not a mission that many would envy. But Ioanna Klapa and Maria Dimitropoulou, long-time friends who belong to Greece's first generation of female judges, have gone about the business of dissecting Golden Dawn with the precision of a surgeon.
After trawling though computers confiscated from the far-right party's leaders, examining witnesses and wading through thousands of videos, pictures, speeches, documents and blogs, the court officials have compiled a 15,000-page dossier outlining why they believe Golden Dawn is a criminal organization.
Under the weight of their inquiry — spurred by the murder of a left-wing musician at the hands of a senior party operative in September 2013 — the extremist group has begun to crack. Last week one Golden Dawn member of Parliament resigned, citing ignorance of the party's activities. Another was expelled after indicating that he, too, was about to leave.