Terror trial ends for ageing Greek suspects

A special court convicted four Greeks today for membership in a far-left terrorist group that for 20 years carried out a bombing campaign against both domestic and American targets.

One of the five defendants, Michalis Kassimis, 58, was acquitted of any involvement in Revolutionary Popular Struggle, or ELA, while the other four were convicted on more than half the charges they faced.

Angeletos Kanas, 52, Costas Agapiou, 56, Irene Athanasaki, 50, and Christos Tsigaridas, 64, face a maximum 25 years imprisonment on sentencing, expected to take place later this week.

The trial was widely regarded as closing a chapter on three decades of violence that followed a 1967-74 military dictatorship which received support from the United States.

The four were convicted for weapons possession and on the lesser charges of complicity in 42 of more than 70 bombings, and 48 of more than 74 murder attempts.

They were cleared on charges they killed a supreme court prosecutor. If convicted on the original charges, they could have received life sentences.

In the 20 years it was active until it disbanded in 1995, ELA was blamed for killing a police officer and supreme court prosecutor. It was also held responsible for scores of murder attempts and bombings.

More than 30 attacks were aimed at American targets, mostly in the early 1980s, including the bombing of the US ambassador’s residence, embassy vehicles, as well as branches of American banks and companies.

They were arrested during a security crackdown ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games. Many of their alleged crimes have exceeded Greece’s statute of limitations.

ELA was seen as the forerunner of several militant organisations, including the far deadlier November 17 organisation, blamed for 23 killings from 1975 until it was broken up in 2002.

Three November 17 members were jailed for life last December, and 10 others received lesser sentences.

The ELA trial hinged on testimony given by the ex-wife of one suspect and archives of the former East German secret police, also known as the Stasi, purportedly linking Greek and other European terror groups.

Both ELA and November 17 were for years included on the US State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations.