Greek terrorism: Olympian judgment

Date: 20/12/03

Stiff sentences are handed down, but terrorism still threatens

GEORGE FLORIDES, Greece's public-order minister, would like to believe that this week's sentencing of 15 members of November 17, a leftist extremist group, will make Greece terrorist-free. A special court handed out multiple life terms to the group's leaders, among them Alexandros Yotopoulos, the Sorbonne-educated revolutionary who chose targets for assassination (mostly western diplomats, American military men, and prominent Greek business families), and Dimitris Koufodinas, a bee-keeper who carried out many of the killings. The other 13 got sentences ranging from eight years to life. Four more, including Mr Koufodinas's wife, were acquitted for lack of evidence, but both she and Yiannis Serifis, a radical labour leader, face a retrial if the prosecutor's request for one is granted.

The sentences take some heat off the government, which had been under pressure from the Americans to make an example of November 17. But the nine-month trial was not exemplary in the eyes of western jurists. Some victims' relatives have made clear that they are dissatisfied with Greek justice. In the cases of Richard Welch, the CIA station chief who was the group's first target in 1975, and George Tsantes, an American military attache shot in 1983, none of the group faced charges, because a 20-year statute of limitations had expired. The Americans, not bound by the statute, are unlikely to seek the extradition of convicted November 17 members.

Awkward questions remain. Mr Florides has said more arrests may be in the offing. Such candour surprised police officers from Britain who helped to investigate the group's most recent murder, of Brigadier Stephen Saunders, military attache at the British embassy in Athens, in 2000 and take some credit for uncovering November 17, after a botched bomb attack in 2002 wounded the perpetrator and led him to finger accomplices.

More than 80% of Greeks, according to one recent poll, believe that several members of November 17 are still at large. Meanwhile, small-scale bombings of parked cars and company offices, which have so far caused few casualties, continue to embarrass the government. With the summer Olympics due to take place in Athens next August, advance teams of American security experts have begun to arrive. Even low-level terrorist incidents cannot be overlooked.

According to counter-terrorism experts in London and Washington, November 17 itself is unlikely to regroup by next August. But Mr Florides cannot relax. The recent bombings in Istanbul underline how close Athens is to places where al-Qaeda franchisees operate. Greece's northern and eastern borders are criss-crossed with tracks used by illegal immigrants. Its own Muslim minority in Thrace, close to Turkey and Bulgaria, could provide hide-outs for extremists. No wonder Mr Florides has banned both police and employees of the public-order ministry from going on holiday next summer.