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6 charged with left-wing terrorism in Greece
[April 20, 2010] ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A Greek prosecutor on Monday charged six people with membership in the country's most active far-left terrorist group, which has claimed a string of bombings and a rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Athens.
Caption: This photo provided by the Greek Police shows Nikolaos Maziotis, one of the arrested six people suspected of being members of the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist group in Athens. Revolutionary Struggle has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the shooting of a riot policeman last year and an anti-tank rocket strike against the U.S. Embassy in 2007. Police spokesman Athanasios Kokalakis says, "The six arrested individuals will appear before a prosecutor to be charged with membership in Revolutionary Struggle." (AP photo/Greek Police, HO)
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The five men and one woman, aged between 30 and 41, were also charged with multiple counts of attempted homicide, causing explosions, and arms offenses linked with the Revolutionary Struggle organization. Each faces a maximum 25-year sentence if found guilty on the main charges. The suspects were arrested in and around Athens Saturday. Police said they found Revolutionary Struggle proclamations and plans for future attacks in one of the detainees' homes, but have located no weapons or explosives. Revolutionary Struggle first appeared in 2003, a year after authorities eradicated Greece's deadliest left-wing group, November 17, and has bombed banks, government buildings and the Athens Stock Exchange, in three cases causing minor injuries to bystanders. Its most spectacular hit was the 2007 rocket-propelled grenade attack on the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy, which caused minor damage but no injuries. The U.S. government subsequently offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Revolutionary Struggle members. The group also shot and severely wounded a riot policeman last year. That attack came during a spike in anarchist and far-left violence that followed the fatal police shooting of an Athens teenager in December 2008 and days of rioting in Greek cities. The six suspects arrived at the main Athens court complex escorted by anti-terrorist police, and were whisked into the prosecutor's office. When they exited, dozens of people who had gathered to chant slogans in support of the detainees threw plastic bottles and scuffled with police, who responded with pepper spray. Two people were arrested for the disturbance, which followed anarchist groups' calls for a show of solidarity. Police said the suspects included Nikos Maziotis, 39, a self-described anarchist jailed for three-and-a-half years for planting a small bomb -- which did not explode -- outside a ministry building in 1997. According to court documents, authorities believe Maziotis played a leading role in the group. Maziotis' pregnant partner, Panayiota Roupa, 41, was also arrested. Domestic far-left terrorism waned after the eradication of November 17, during a security crackdown ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Since then, Revolutionary Struggle have been the most prominent militants, although since the December 2008 riots two new groups have carried out a string of bomb and gun attacks on symbols of wealth and authority, killing a policeman. |
