November 17th (terrorist organization)

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The November 17th Revolutionary Organization ( Greek Επαναστατική Οργάνωση 17 Νοέμβρη Epanastatiki Organosi Dekati Evdomi Noemvri ), usually shorter Dekati Evdomi Noemvri or 17N, was an underground terrorist organization in Greece , which ideologically represented a mixture of Marxism and nationalism .

The organization was named after the bloody suppression of the uprising at the Athens Polytechnic against the Greek military dictatorship on November 17, 1973.

history

The group first appeared in 1975 and carried out over 100 attacks, killing 23 people. It disbanded after a large number of its members were arrested in 2002. The EU and the US have the organization on their lists of terrorist organizations .

It is sometimes assumed that former members who escaped arrest are involved in the Epanastatikos Agonas ( Revolutionary Struggle ), which has been active since 2003 .

attacks

The November 17 group committed itself to 23 murders and numerous bomb attacks in Greece since 1975. In detail, the following attacks are attributed to the organization:

  • December 23, 1975: CIA chief agent Richard Welch is killed in Psychiko .
  • December 13, 1976: Former police officer Evangelos Mallios killed in Paleo Faliro .
  • January 16, 1980: Deputy Police Director Pandelis Petrou and his driver Sotiris Stamoulis killed in Pangrati .
  • November 15, 1983: US fleet captain George Tsantes, head of JUSMAGG, and his driver Nikos Veloutsos killed in Psychiko .
  • April 3, 1984: JUSMAGG officer Robert Chant survives attack in Elliniko .
  • February 21, 1985: Nikos Momferato, editor of the Apogevmatini newspaper, and his driver Panagiotis Roussetis killed in Kolonaki .
  • November 26, 1985: Police bus blown up in Kesariani , officer N. Georgakopoulos killed.
  • April 8, 1986: Industrialist Dimitris Angelopoulos killed in Kolonaki .
  • October 5, 1986: Bombing raids on four tax offices.
  • February 4, 1987: Dr. Zacharias Kapsalakis injured in attack in Chalandri .
  • April 24, 1987: 11 American soldiers injured in attack on air force bus in Rendi .
  • August 10, 1987: Nine Americans injured in a bomb explosion in a bus in Kavouri .
  • January 21, 1988: Attempted assassination attempt on US representative George Karos in Filothei .
  • March 1, 1988: Industrialist Alexandros Athanasiadis-Bodosakis killed in Filothei .
  • March 23, 1988: Four vehicles belonging to Turkish diplomats in Pangrati damaged in a bomb attack.
  • June 28, 1988: US military attaché William Nordeen killed by car bomb in Kifissia .
  • August 14, 1988: attack on Vyronas police station by six members on November 17; Weapons are stolen.
  • January 10, 1989: Prosecutor Konstantinos Androulidakis injured in the legs; he dies a month later.
  • January 18, 1989: Public Prosecutor Panagiotis Tarasouleas injured in Maroussi .
  • February 22, 1989: Bomb attacks on luxury apartments in Kolonaki , Chalandri and Vrilissia .
  • May 8, 1989: Giorgos Petsos injured in the bomb attack on his car in Filothei .
  • September 26, 1989: MP Pavlos Bakogiannis killed in Kolonaki .
  • December 25, 1989: Members of November 17 steal missiles and ammunition from army camp in Sykouri . A series of rocket attacks began a few months later.
  • February 3, 1990: Members of November 17 steal bazookas from the war museum.
  • May 15, 1990: 23 bomb explosions rock Ekali in northern Athens.
  • June 10, 1990: First rocket attack, on Procter & Gamble offices .
  • November 20, 1990: Entrepreneur Vardis Vardinogiannis escapes unharmed from a three-missile attack on his armored vehicle in Erythrea, north of Athens.
  • December 16, 1990: Two rockets are fired at the EC office on Leoforos Vasilissis Sofias in central Athens.
  • January 24, 1991: Bomb attack on the house of the French military attaché in Metz .
  • January 28, 1991: A rocket hit the American Express Bank on Panepistimou Street in central Athens.
  • January 29, 1991: Rockets hit the BP offices on Kifissias Avenue.
  • March 10, 1991: Five tourist buses are damaged by bomb explosions in the Galatsi and Ano Kypseli districts of Athens .
  • March 13, 1991: US Sergeant Ronald Stewart killed in a remote-controlled explosion in Ano Glyfada .
  • March 31, 1991: Missile attack on the Pendelikon Hotel in Kifissia in northern Athens.
  • April 27, 1991: Bomb explosion on the tug Karapiperis in the port of Perama .
  • May 2, 1991: Missile attack on the Public Power Corporation (DEH) in Agii Anargyri .
  • May 8, 1991: Rocket attack on the Siemens subsidiary in Maroussi .
  • May 16, 1991: Missile attack on Halyps cement in Aspropyrgos .
  • May 31, 1991: Rocket attack on Löwenbräu in Atalanti .
  • July 16, 1991: A car booby trap injures the Turkish charge d'affaires Deniz Bulukbasi in Psychiko .
  • October 7, 1991: Cetin Giorku, assistant to the press attaché at the Turkish embassy, ​​killed.
  • November 2, 1991: rocket and hand grenade attack on the bus of a raid squad in Exarchia , police officer Giannis Varis (25) is killed, six other officers are injured.
  • December 8, 1991: Rocket attack on Biohalko offices in Nea Filothei .
  • July 14, 1992: Missile attack on Finance Minister Ioannis Palaiokrassas' limousine in Syntagma Square in Athens. The passer-by Athanasios Axarlian, 22, is killed.
  • November 20, 1992: Rocket attack on the Nea Filadelfia tax office .
  • December 4, 1992: Bomb explosion at the Maroussi tax office .
  • December 21, 1992: Members of November 17 injure MP Eleftherios Papadimitriou with pistols.
  • February 11, 1993: Bomb explosion at the tax office in Moschato .
  • February 23, 1993: Bomb explosion at the Chaidari tax office .
  • March 3, 1993: Bomb explosion at the Peristeri tax office .
  • March 9, 1993: Rocket attack on the tax office in Kaminia near Piraeus.
  • March 11, 1993: Bomb explosion at the Petroupolis Tax Office .
  • January 24, 1994: Michalis Vranopoulos, former governor of the National Bank of Greece, killed in Kolonaki ; his driver Nikos Grispos is injured.
  • April 11, 1994: Rocket attacks on the Aliko and Nationale Nederlanden insurance offices. Another two missiles on the British air transport company Ark Royal in Piraeus miss their target.
  • April 21, 1994: Bomb explosion in the Miele showroom in Psychiko .
  • May 18, 1994: Missile attack on the IBM office on Filellinon Street in central Athens.
  • July 4, 1994: The Turkish diplomat Omer Sipahioglou is killed.
  • March 15, 1995: Two rockets are fired at the Mega television studios in Peania in northeast Athens.
  • February 15, 1996: Missile attack on the US embassy hits the outer wall.
  • May 28, 1997: Shipowner Kostas Peratikos killed in Piraeus .
  • February 3, 1998: Bomb attacks on McDonald’s stores in Chalandri and Vrilissia .
  • February 19, 1998: Bomb explosion at General Motors showroom on Kifissias Avenue.
  • May 12, 1998: Bomb explosion at Chrysler showrooms on Katehaki Avenue and Opel showrooms on Mesogion Avenue.
  • April 1, 1999: Rocket attack on the PASOK headquarters on Charilaou Trikoupi Street in Athens.
  • May 5, 1999: Three rocket attacks on various banks in Piraeus .
  • May 17, 1999: Missile hits the roof of the residence of the German ambassador in Chalandri .
  • June 8, 2000: British military attaché Stephen Saunders is killed on Kifissias Avenue in Athens.

Criminal prosecution

The Greek police failed to identify or even arrest members of the group during the group's three decades of activity. It was not until June 2002 that a member of the group was seriously injured and arrested. Evidence found and extensive statements by the seriously injured man in the hospital led to the identification and arrest of the hard core of the organization. In September of the same year, the fugitive alleged operative head of the group Dimitris Koufontinas also turned himself in and declared the end of the terrorist practice. Since then, the group has been considered broken.

In the process that followed, 19 people were charged. On December 17, 2003, Alexandros Giotopoulos and Dimitris Koufontinas were sentenced to 21 life imprisonment each. 14 other members of the organization received life or multi-year prison sentences. Four other defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence. In the second instance, two other defendants were also acquitted because of the statute of limitations of the offenses they were accused of. The sentence against Giotopoulos was reduced to 17 life imprisonment.

In January 2014, Christodoulos Xiros, a former member of the organization, escaped from prison leave. In a video posted on the Internet, he declared that he wanted to continue the armed struggle and threatened new terrorist attacks. He was arrested again in January 2015. The Greek police suspect him of cooperating with the fire cell conspiracy .

In November 2017, Dimitris Koufontinas, whose sentence was reduced to 11 life sentences in the second instance, was granted a 48-hour release after 15 years in prison, which he began on November 9. The release led to protests by diplomats from the US, Turkey and the UK. The anarchist group Conspiracy of Fire Cells , on the other hand, dedicated their attacks to him on the grounds: "Dimitris Koufontinas is one of the few authentic revolutionaries who never gave up and made no deals."

Biographies

  • Savvas Xiros: Guantanamo in Greek: Contemporary torture in the rule of law , Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 2007. (From the Greek by Heike Schrader.)
  • Dimitris Koufontinas: Born on November 17th - A History of the Greek Urban Guerrilla , Bahoe Books , Vienna 2019. (From the Greek by Fee Meyer.)

literature

  • Florian Edelmann: The Phantom Guerilla: Revolutionary Organization November 17th in Greece. In: Alexander Straßner (Ed.): Social revolutionary terrorism. Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 329-343.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Florian Edelmann: The phantom guerrilla: Revolutionary organization November 17th in Greece. In: Alexander Straßner (Ed.): Social revolutionary terrorism. Wiesbaden 2008, p. 330.
  2. ↑ Council of the European Union : EU terrorist list (PDF) in the section Combating Terrorism - Important Documents , as of June 15, 2008
  3. ↑ United States Department of State, Bureau of Counterterrorism , as of January 27, 2012
  4. ^ Florian Edelmann: The phantom guerrilla: Revolutionary organization November 17th in Greece. In: Alexander Straßner (Ed.): Social revolutionary terrorism. Wiesbaden 2008, p. 343.
  5. ↑ Chronology of all November 17 attacks. In: www.ekathimerini.com. Kathimerini , July 8, 2002, archived from the original on August 10, 2011 ; accessed on July 3, 2013 .
  6. ^ Florian Edelmann: The phantom guerrilla: Revolutionary organization November 17th in Greece. In: Alexander Straßner (Ed.): Social revolutionary terrorism. Wiesbaden 2008, p. 329.
  7. ↑ Der Standard, December 18, 2003, see: [1]
  8. ^ Florian Edelmann: The phantom guerrilla: Revolutionary organization November 17th in Greece. In: Alexander Straßner (Ed.): Social revolutionary terrorism. Wiesbaden 2008, p. 335; Vorarlberg Online: Terrorist gets 17 times for life . May 9, 2007.
  9. ↑ Police apprehend Greece's most wanted terrorists , dpa via RP online, January 4, 2015
  10. ↑ Helena Smith: Greek terrorist's prison parole sparks global outrage The Guardian of November 10, 2017
  11. ↑ Helena Smith: Greek terrorist's prison parole sparks global outrage The Guardian of November 10, 2017