Who are November 17?

The Greek government is heralding what appears to be the end of the terrorist group November 17, a small but tightly knit organisation that has claimed responsibility for 23 political killings in the country over the past 27 years. Three judges sitting at a top-security court in Athens today convicted 15 members of the group, including its leader and its top assassin, on hundreds of terrorism charges after a marathon £1.4m, nine-month trial.

November 17, a radical leftwing group that melded Marxist and nationalistic principles, developed in the early 1970s in opposition to the rightwing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 74. The name November 17 commemorates the day in 1973 when the government sent in tanks to crush a student uprising at Athens Polytechnic University, killing 20 students.

Starting with the murder of the CIA's Athens chief, Richard Welch, in 1975, the group initially targeted Greek officials linked to the junta - which mercilessly persecuted its leftwing opponents - and military and diplomatic envoys from the United States, which backed the regime. But during the 1980s the anti-capitalist group began bomb attacks on ordinary citizens and property. Since 1990, its targets have included foreign business and European Union facilities. Victims of November 17 have included Greek, American, British and Turkish diplomats and military officials.

The group, which aims for the establishment of a socialist society in Greece, is vehemently anti-American and anti-Nato, opposing Greek participation in the organisation and espousing Greece's exit from the EU.

The last of the cold-war era European socialist militant groups, analysts believe November 17 was able to outlive group such as Italy's Red Brigades and Germany's Red Army faction, which were mostly disbanded in the 1980s, because of its close-knit structure. A highly secretive organisation, November 17 is thought to have only ever had around 25 members, many of those from the same families.

This has made the group very difficult to penetrate, and until June 2002 no November 17 member had ever been arrested. But after this initial breakthrough, stemming from a botched bomb plot on the port town of Piraeus, other arrests quickly followed and the small group unravelled rapidly.

The group is based on intellectual-Marxist principles - its leader, Alexandros Giotopoulos, is an academic mathematician who was a student in Paris in the 1960s and is the son of Greece's most prominent Trotskyite, Dimitris Giotopoulos.

Timeline: November 17

A chronology of key events in the history of the Greek terrorist group

Agencies
Monday December 8, 2003

December 8 2003
A Greek court convicts two men as leader and chief assassin of terrorist group November 17. Thirteen others are convicted of criminal activities committed by the group, ranging from murder to possession of weapons and explosives. Four defendants are found not guilty.

March 3 2003
The trial of 19 people suspected of membership of November 17 opens. On the following day, the group's suspected leader, Alexandros Giotopoulos, pleads not guilty to charges against him. He is charged with 963 crimes, including designing and planning every single November 17 attack.

January 6 2003
Anestis Papanastasiou, the last of a total of 19 suspected guerrillas, is arrested and later charged with membership of the radical leftist band.

July 18 2002
The first three November 17 suspects ever captured are charged.

July 17 2002
Police detain Giotopoulos on the remote island of Lipsi.

July 4 2002
Greek police discover the main November 17 hideout in Athens.

June 30 2002
November 17 suspect Savvas Xiros is injured in a botched bomb attack in Piraeus. Police find an apartment full of weapons and November 17 paraphernalia, and say that they found his fingerprints on a car used in the 1997 killing of shipowner Costis Peratikos.

June 8 2000
British defence attache Brigadier Stephen Saunders is shot and killed in his car by two attackers on a motorcycle while driving to work at the British embassy in Athens.
British defence attache shot dead in Athens

May 28 1997
Shipping businessman Mr Peratikos is killed as he leaves his office in the port of Piraeus.

1994
A former governor of the National Bank of Greece, Michalis Vranopoulos, is gunned down in central Athens in January. Turkish diplomat Omer Haluk Sipahioglu is shot dead outside his coastal home in July.

July 14 1992
A rocket attack on the car of finance minister Ioannis Paleokrassas in central Athens misses its target, but kills a passer-by.

1991
In March, US air force sergeant Ronald Stewart is killed by a remote-controlled bomb. In October, the Turkish deputy press attache, Cetin Gorgu, is shot dead in his car outside his home.

1989
Government lawyer Costas Androulidakis is shot in the Athens suburb of Zografou in January. He dies five weeks later. In September, Pavlos Bakoyiannis, an MP from the centre-right New Democracy party, is shot dead at the entrance to his office in central Athens.

1988
Industrialist Alexandros Athanasiadis is shot five times in his car, dying in the March attack. In June, a US naval attache, Captain William Nordeen, is killed by a remote-controlled bomb near his home in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia.

April 8, 1986
Industrialist Dimitris Angelopoulos is killed in central Athens.

February 21 1985
In February, newspaper publisher Nikos Momferatos and his driver, Panayotis Rousetis, are shot dead in central Athens. Policeman Nikos Georgakopoulos is killed in November when a police riot squad bus is blown up in central Athens.

1984
US flight sergeant Robert Chant is shot near a military base in April, and later dies. A Greek policeman, Christos Matis, is shot dead in December as November 17 rob a bank in Athens.

November 15 1983
George Tsantes, a US military attache, is shot dead in his car. His driver is also killed.

January 16 1980
Pandelis Petrou, the deputy head of the Greek riot police, is shot dead along with his driver, Sotiris Stamoulis.

December 14 1976
November 17 shoots Evangelos Mallios, a former officer accused of torture under the military junta, dead.

December 23 1975
Richard Welch, the CIA's chief officer in Greece, is shot dead and November 17 - which takes its name from the date on which a student revolt was crushed in 1973 (see below) - claims responsibility for its first political killing.

November 17 1973
Greece's ruling military junta, which held power from 1967-74, sends tanks into an Athens university to crush a student revolt, killing at least 13 students.

http://www.gogreece.com/news/headlines/story.html?id=22504

[01] 'November 17' terrorist group trial verdicts passed down by criminal court Athens, 09/12/2003 (ANA)

The criminal tribunal trying the 19 suspected members of the elusive 'November 17' terrorist group on Monday convened to pass down the verdicts on the accused, which were read out by Appeals judges’ president Michalis Margaris, who presided over the court proceedings, which lasted 162 sessions.

On the charge of setting up and participating in a criminal group, which all 19 detainees were charged with, the court ruled ''guilty'' the following: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Dionyssis Georgiadis, Vassilis Xiros, Costas Karatsolis, Thomas Serifis, Pavlos Serifis, Alexandros Giotopoulos, and Nikos Papanastasiou.

Acquitted of this charge, by majority vote, are the following: Costas Telios, Yannis Serifis , Theologos Psaradellis and Patroklos Tselentis, while Angeliki Sotiropoulou was found not guilty due to doubts. The court ruled that criminal proceedings for this crime are halted against the five.

Psaradellis was acquitted of the charges he faced of participation in two robberies.

Sotiropoulou was further acquitted, by majority vote, of charges of participation in the killing of British defense attache Steven Saunders, while Anestis Papanastasiou was also acquitted.

Sotiropoulou was also acquitted of the final charge she faced, of complicity in the incident during which a bomb exploded in Savvas Xiros' hands in Piraeus on June 29, 2002, that resulted in the first ever arrest of a 17N suspect (Savvas Xiros) and snowballed into the arrests of a further 18 suspects.

Sotiropoulou, therefore, was due to be released from prison later in the day.

Savvas Xiros was not present in court due to illness.

The long-awaited trial opened Monday, March 3, at the women's section of the Korydallos prison, near Piraeus, under stringent security measures, and adjourned on November 24, after 162 sessions.

The court proceedings were presided over by Appeals judges’ president Michalis Margaritis, 64, who joined the judicial corps in 1972 after receiving a degree from the Athens Law School and post-graduate studies specializing in European Law in London. The other justices sitting on the bench were appeals judges Nikolaos Zairis, 57, and Vassilis Kourakakis, 63. The prosecutor representing the State was 64-year-old appeals judge Christos Lambrou, a veteran to the judicial corps which he joined in 1969.

Prosecution witnesses numbered more than 350, among them 40 foreign nationals. Defense lawyers numbered 150, while the accused were facing charges for an overall total of some 2,000 crimes. - Alexandros Giotopoulos, 59, (code-name Lambros and believed to be the terrorist group's leader), faced some 1,000 charges as, according to the indictment sheet, he was considered the moral instigator of all the 17N activities. He was believed to have been a member of 17N from its founding in 1975 up until his arrest in July 2002. - Nikos Papanastasiou, 52, (code-name Nikitas) faced eight charges for participating in three 17N attacks: the 1984 attempted assassination of US air force sergeant Robert Judd, the 1984 robbery of a National Bank branch in Kato Petralona in which police officer Christos Matis was killed, and the 1985 assassination of Athens daily 'Apogevmatini' publisher Nikos Mompheratos and his driver Panayotis Rousetis. He is considered to have been a 17N member from 1975 up to his arrest in July 2002. - Dimitris Koufodinas, 45 (code-name Loukas, believed to be the organization’s top hit-man) faced 253 charges for participation in 84 17N activities, including participation in many 17N killings, including those of police officer Christos Matis in 1984 National Bank robbery in Kato Petralona; 'Apogevmatini' publisher Nikos Mompheratos and his driver Panayotis Rousetis in 1985; industrialist Dimitris Angelopoulos in 1986; industrialist Alexandros Athanasiadis-Bodosakis in 1988; fatal shooting of prosecutor Costas Androulidakis in 1989; New Democracy (ND) MP Pavlos Bakoyannis in 1989; US sergeant Ronald Steward in 1991; Turkish embassy assistant press attache Gyorgu Cetin in 1991; and British embassy military attache Brigadier Stephen Saunders in 2000, among others. He was believed to have been a 17N member from early 1983 to his arrest in July 2002. - Savvas Xiros, 41, (code-name Michalis) faced 206 charges for participation in 78 17N activities, including the assassinations of: US embassy military attache William Nordeen in 1988; New Democracy MP Pavlos Bakoyannis in 1989; former National Bank governor Michalis Vranopoulos in 1994; Turkish diplomat Omer Haluk Sipahioglu in 1994; shipowner and former shareholder and director of Elefsis Shipyards Costis Peraticos in 1997, among others. Believed to have joined 17N in 1986. - Christodoulos Xiros, 45, (code-name Manolis, older brother of Savvas Xiros), faced 190 charges for participation in 78 17N activities. Believed to be a 17N member from late-1983 to his arrest in July 2002. - Patroclos Tselentis, 43, (code-name Alekos or Tainias) faced 41 charges for participation in ten 17N activities, including five assassinations. Believed to have joined 17N in 1983. - Vassilis Tzortzatos, 48, (code-name Stamatis) faced 175 charges for participation in 33 17N activities, including 7 assassinations. Believed to have joined the group in 1985. - Vassilis Xiros, 31, (code-name Panais, younger brother of Savvas and Christodoulos Xiros), faced 39 charges for participation in 28 17N activities, including accessory in the assassinations of shipowner and former shareholder and director of Elefsis Shipyards Costis Peraticos in 1997; and British embassy military attache Brigadier Stephen Saunders in 2000. Believed to have joined the group in 1995. - Iraklis Kostaris, 37, (code-name Haris), faced 30 charges for participation in 9 17N activities, including accessory in the assassination of shipowner and former shareholder and director of Elefsis Shipyards Costis Peraticos in 1997 and as an accomplice in the assassination of New Democracy (ND) MP Pavlos Bakoyannis in 1989. Believed to have been a 17N member from 1988 up to his arrest in July 2002. - Costas Karatsolis, 37, (code-name Stelios), faced 13 charges for participation in six 17N activities, mostly concerning armed robberies, and one assassination attempt. Believed to have joined the group in late 1987. - Sotiris Kondylis, 43, (code-name Aris), faced 18 charges, including accessory in the assassination of Turkish diplomat Omer Haluk Sipahioglu in 1994. Believed to have joined the group in 1990. - Pavlos Serifis, 47, faced three major charges under the counter-terrorism law faced by most of the accused, concerning set-up and membership in a criminal organization, arms possession, and construction, procurement and possession of explosive materials. Believed to have been a member of 17N from its founding in 1975 up to his arrest in July 2002. - Yannis Serifis, 65 (cousin of Pavlos Serifis) faced the same charges as Pavlos Serifis. Believed to have been a member of 17N from its founding in 1975 up to his arrest in July 2002. - Costas Telios, 38, (code-name Markos), faced 14 charges for participation in four 17N activities. Believed to have joined the group in 1988, and of being a member up until his arrest in July 2002. - Thomas Serifis, 37, (code-name Stathis), faced eight charges for participation in four 17N activities. He was not facing charges related to the 17N assassinations. Believed to have joined the group in late 1988. - Theologos Psaradellis, 60, (code-name Fotis), faced six charges for participation in two 17N armed robberies -- that of the ELTA post office in Patissia, Athens, in 1988, and at the ELTA post office in Egaleo in 1988. Believed to have joined the organization in 1978. - Dionyssis Georgiadis, 27, (code-name Alexis), faced nine charges for participation in four 17N activities. Was not charged with participation in 17N assassinations. Believed to have joined the organization in 1988. - Angeliki Sotiropoulou, 41, (the only woman arrested for alleged membership in 17N, former wife of another defendant, Savvas Xiros, and long-time companion of defendant Dimitris Koufodinas, whom she married in a civil service at Korydallos prison after their incarceration) faced five charges for participation in two 17N activities: the assassination of British embassy military attache Brigadier Stephen Saunders in 2000, and an attempted explosion in the port of Piraeus. She was believed to have joined the group in 1986. - Anestis Papanastasiou, 41 (cousin of defendant Nikos Papanastasiou). He was not charged with participation in any 17N attack, but accused of set-up and membership in a criminal organization.

Reduced sentences will be imposed on Patroklos Tselentis, Costas Telios, Thomas Serifis and Sotiris Kondylis, since the court recognized as mitigating circumstances their "genuine repentance".

Alexandros Giotopoulos is the only one of the 19 defendants to be found guilty of the crime of "moral instigation" in all the cases of murder with which the '17 November' terrorist group is charged.

Angeliki Sotiropoulou, Yannis Serifis, Theologos Psaradellis and Anestis Papanastasiou have been acquitted and will be released.

'November 17' terrorist group mastermind Alexandros Giotopoulos and top hit-man Dimitris Koufodinas, as well as Savvas Xiros, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos and Iraklis Kostaris are facing life sentences, after being convicted Monday by the three-member criminal court trying 19 suspected 17N suspects.

Giotopoulos, Koufodinas, Savvas and Christodoulos Xiros and Vassilis Tzortzatos are expected to be handed down sentences of several times life, when the court reconvenes later in the week to pass sentences.

Judicial sources believe that Nikos Papanastasiou and Pavlos Serifis, who were convicted only for the crime of "setting up and participating in a criminal organization", will face prison sentences of 5-10 years.

Sentencing on Wednesday: Convictions of defendants in the murders and other felony crimes carried out by 'November 17', as announced by the court on Monday:

For the murder of police guard Christos Matis in the 1984 National Bank robbery in Kato Petralona, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Christodoulos Xiros, Patroklos Tselentis and Alexandros Giotïpoulos. Acquitted: Nikos Papanastasiou.

For the murders of 'Apogevmatini' publisher Nikos Momferatos and his driver Panayotis Rousetis in 1985, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Patroklos Tselentis and Alexandros Giotopoulos. Acquitted: Nikos Papanastasiou.

For the murder of industrialist Dimitris Angelopoulos in 1986, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortatos, Patroklos Tselentis and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the murder of industrialist Alexandros Athanasiadis-Bodosakis in 1988, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Vassilis Tzortzatos and Alexandros Giotopoulos. Acquitted: Christodoulos Xiros.

For the murder of US embassy military attache William Nordeen in 1988, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Patroklos Tselentis, and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the murder (fatal shooting) of prosecutor Costas Androulidakis in 1989, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Costas Telios and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the attempted murder of Supreme Court prosecutor Panayiotis Tarasouleas (shot and wounded in the legs) in 1989, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the attempted murder of former public order minister George Petsos and two of his police bodyguards (their car was blown up) in 1989, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos. Acquitted: Christodoulos Xiros and Vassilis Tzortzatos.

For the murder of main opposition New Democracy MP and party spokesman Pavlos Bakoyannis (husband of current Athens mayor Dora Bakoyianni) in 1989, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Iraklis Kostaris and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the attempted murder of businessman Vardis Vardinoyannis (booby-trapped car, no one was injured) in 1990, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos and Alexandros Giotopoulos. Acquitted: Iraklis Kostaris.

For the murder of US sergeant Ronald Stewart in 1991, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Christodoulos Xiros, Iraklis Kostaris and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the murder of Turkish embassy assistant press attache Gyorgu Cetin, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the attempted murder of then finance minister Yannis Paleokrassas in 1992, in which teenage pedestrian Thanos Axarlian was killed and five other passers-by were injured, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Costas Telios and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the murder of former National Bank of Greece governor Michalis Vranopoulos and injury of his driver in 1994, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the murder of Turkish embassy diplomat Omer Haluk Sipahioglu in 1994, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Sotiris Kondylis and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the murder of shipowner and former shareholder and director of Elefsis Shipyards, Costis Peraticos, in 1997, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Vassilis Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos. Acquitted: Iraklis Kostaris.

For the murder of British embassy military attache Stephen Saunders in 2000, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Vassilis Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos. Acquitted: Angeliki Sotiropoulou.

For the attempted murder in 1988 of US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Athens station chief George Carros, all five defendants (Savvas and Christodoulos Xiros, Vassilis Tzortzatos, Patroklos Tselentis and Alexandros Giotopoulos) were acquitted.

For the rocket attack against the US embassy in Athens in 1996, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Vassilis Xiros, Sotiris Kondylis and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

For the rocket attack against the residence of German ambassador in Athens Karl-Heinz Albert Kuhna in 1999, convicted are: Dimitris Koufodinas, Savvas Xiros, Vassilis Xiros and Alexandros Giotopoulos.

Alexandros Giotopoulos was also convicted for moral instigation in the double murder of CIA official and head of the US military mission in Athens, George Chades, and his driver Nikos Veloutsos, in 1983.

The court adjourned until Wednesday, when bench prosecutor Christos Lambrou's proposed sentences for the convicted defendants will be announced.

For your NOVEMBER 17 timeline :

1975+/- : (PHILIP AGEE, ORGANIZING COMMITTEE FOR A FIFTH ESTATE [OC-5] AND COUNTERSPY MAGAZINE - OC-5 IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMMUNIST FRONT NCARL AND THE NATIONAL LAWYER'S GUILD CONFERENCE, THE CNSS, IPS ; See NOVEMBER 17 ASSASSINATION OF CIA OPERATIVE RICHARD WELCH) Organizing Committee for a Fifth Estate, and Counterspy:
Philip Agee and Victor Marchetti, along with members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, launched the journal CounterSpy, under the aegis of the Organizing Committee for a Fifth Estate (OC-5). OC-5 stated that its purpose was to develop an "alternative intelligence community. . .with the flexibility of employing both revolutionary and reformist methods. "
In an early CounterSpy article, "Exposing the CIA", Agree spelled out the OC-5 program:
"The most effective and important systematic efforts to combat the CIA that can be undertaken right now are, I think, the identification, exposure, and neutralization of its people working abroad. . .we know enough about what the CIA does to resolve to oppose it. . .
OC-5's Annual Report, published in the winter of 1975 edition of CounterSpy, describes its connections with other members of the antiintelligence lobby, all of them working within the system:
". . .Among the many conferences attended by the Fifth Estate were: the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL) conference [NCARL was originally formed as a communist front to oppose congressional investigation of subversive organizations]; the National Lawyers Guild Conference (with whome we work closely);. . .and. . .the Center for National Security Studies."
In its first few years IPS played an important if quiet role in helping OC-5. . .On the OC-5 CounterSpy advisory board were Marcus Raskin, Victor Marchetti, Dave Dellinger of Chicago Seven fame, and several others, like Frank Donner and Sylvia Crane, both former members of the Communist party. CounterSpy's attorney was Alan Dranitzke, who was a leader of the Cuba Subcommittee of the National Lawyers Guild International Committee, and whose senior law partners include David Rein, a Communist party member, and Joseph Forer, a counsel for the Communist party, USA.------- "VVAW and the Anti-intelligence Lobby"by S. Stephen Powell, Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies (publisher: Green Hill Publishers, Inc.), 1987, From S. Stephen Powell, Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies, 1987, 65-66: http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1105160/posts***
***
I was doing some crossreferencing and noticed this interesting piece of information on the VVAW's links to the anti-intelligence lobby of the Church Committee era. Those familiar with Agee, etc. may remember that CounterSpy played a role in blowing the cover of CIA operative Richard Welch, which led to Welch's assassination. Powell's book describes numerous contacts between Agee and Soviet and Cuban intelligence. ------------ 1 posted on 03/25/2004 1:38:19 PM PST by Fedora

DECEMBER 1975 : (A PUBLICATION [COUNTERSPY] ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH PHILIP AGEE PUBLISHES THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF A CIA OPERATIVE IN ATHENS, GREECE BY THE NAME OF RICHARD WELCH - WELCH WAS ASSASSINATED SHORTLY THEREAFTER) In December 1975, a publication to which Agee reportedly had ties, published the name and address of CIA operative in Athens, Greece, Richard Welch. On December 23, 1975, Welch was shot to death outside his Athens home.
The CIA blamed Agee for this death, although he denied having provided the agent's address to the publication. Agee, however, had written in the edition of the publication publishing Welch's address the following advice to foes of the CIA: "…the CIA people can be identified and exposed through periodic bulletins disseminated to our subscribers, particularly individuals and organizations in the foreign country in question. Photographs and home address in the foreign capital or Consular cities should be included… the people themselves will have to decide what they must do to rid themselves of the CIA." ------ "Philip Burnett Franklin Agee: CIA Case Officer in Latin America (1936 - )"http://www.angelfire.com/dc/1spy/Agee.html

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