Greek authorities have formally charged three more suspects today in their crackdown on a feared Marxist guerrilla group, November 17, which has claimed more than 20 political killings over three decades.
Justice officials said the three were being charged with membership of a terrorist organization.
They were identified as Mr Alexandros Yotopoulos, 58, a French-born academic and activist with ties to the radical student movement in France in the 1960s; Mr Vassilis Tzortzatis, a 47-year-old electrician, and a pensioner, Mr Theologos Psaradelis, 59.
Athens police spokesman Mr Leftheris Oikonomou, said Mr Yotopoulos, alias Michael Oikonomous, had admitted complicity in 28 incidents, including assassinations and bank robberies.
Described as a founder of November 17, Mr Yotopoulos was arrested this week in a dramatic police helicopter commando raid on the island of Lipsi, 250 kilometres (160 miles) east of Athens.
November 17, or 17N as it is also known, was named for a day in 1973 when the Greek military junta bloodily suppressed student demonstrations.
It has claimed responsibility for a number of political murders over the years.
These include the June 2000 murder of British military attache, Mr Stephen Saunders, who was gunned down on his way to work, the 1997 murder of the Anglo-Greek shipping maganate, Mr Constantinos Peratikos, the killing in 1989 of the conservative parliamentary deputy Mr Pavlos Bakoyannis, and the CIA station chief, Mr Richard Welch, shot and killed in 1975.
AFP
