Greek neonazi MP Ilias Kasidiaris escaped jail with a six-month suspended sentence on Thursday for hate speech and incitement of violence against immigrants.

An Athens misdemeanours court convicted Mr Kasidiaris, spokesman for the Golden Dawn party, following a speech posted online by supporters in 2011.

In it, he referred to immigrants as “human garbage” and called on residents of a low-income area near Athens to take direct action against foreign criminals.

The prosecution said his comments had “openly urged citizens to take the law into their own hands and use violence.”

Mr Kasidiaris claimed that he merely told citizens to defend their rights using legal means protected by the constitution.

He protested that he had been “standing up for Greeks … neglected by the state” and described his conviction as part of a politically orchestrated attack on his party.

Golden Dawn, founded in the early 1980s, came third in Greece’s last general election.