Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-07-27

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] A BREAKDOWN OF N17'S MEMBERS

[02] NEXT TARGETS: KOUFONTINAS - SARDANAPALOS - ANNA

[03] N17 ARE THE "KIDS" AND ELA ARE THE "PARENTS"

[04] THREE HIDEOUTS IN THESSALONIKI

[05] THE US WANT ALL OF N17 CONVINCTED

[06] INVESTIGATION FOR N17'S INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS

[07] SERIFIS SAYS IT ALL

[08] NEW REVELATIONS BY KOSTAS TELIOS

[09] SHELL: MAJOR OLYMPIC GAMES SPONSOR

[10] VENIZELOS-ROGGE MEETING

[11] WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY PRAISES GREECE FOR ITS EFFORTS AGAINST

[01] A BREAKDOWN OF N17'S MEMBERS

According to confessions, witness testimonies and evidence collected so far by the Greek Police and which has published, there are at least 21 or 22 people involved in November 17, of which 14 have been arrested, two are dead and the rest are still at large. The following list is not complete, since there is information missing concerning many executive members of criminal activity. Founding members and possibly informants, trainers and pyrotechnists are still missing.

The arrested members of N17, are as follows:

1. Alexandros Giotopoulos, code-name Lambros. 58 years old. Suspected leading member, possible leader of November 17. Confessed nothing apart from possessing a false identity card. Arrested 18/7

2. Christodoulos Xeros, code-name Manolis. 44 years old. Confessed his participation in 29 criminal acts and indicated his accomplices. Arrested 15/7.

3. Savvas Xeros, code-name Spyros. It is unknown what exactly he confessed but has said a lot. Injured on 29/6/2002

4. Vassilis Xeros, code-name Panais. 30 years old. Confessed his participation in 19 criminal acts. Arrested 15/7.

5. Vassilis Tzortzatos, code-name Stamatis. 47 years old. Confessed his participation in 27 criminal acts. Arrested 18/7.

6. Kostas Karatsolis, code-name Stelios. 36 years old. Confessed his activity in 4 criminal acts. Arrested 20/7.

7. Iraklis Kostaris, code-name Haris. 36 years old. Suspected of implication in at least 10 criminal acts.

8. Theologos Psaradelis, code-name Fotis. 59-year-olds. Confessed his participation in only one robbery. The Greek Police have connected him to one more. Arrested 18/7.

9. Thomas Serifis, code-name Stathis. 36 years old. Confessed to 4 criminal acts. Arrested 21/7.

10. Dionysis Georgiadis, code-name Alexis. 26 years old. Confessed to 2 criminal acts. Arrested 15/7.

11. Pavlos Serifis, code-name Vaggelis or Nikitas. 46 years old. Seems to have confessed his participation in criminal acts from 1975 (Wells killing) to 1980. Arrested 23/7.

12. Patroklos Tselentis, code-name Alekos or The Film. 42 years old. Confessed his participation in 8 criminal acts, from 1984 to 1988. Arrested 24/7.

13. Kostas Telios, code-name Markos. 42 years old. Confessed to 4 criminal acts. Turned himself in to the police on 23/7.

14. Nikos Papanastasiou, code-name Nikitas. 50 years old. Is suspected of being one of the founding members of the organization. Arrested 26/7.

Wanted

15. Dimitris Koufontinas, code-name Lucas. 44 years old. Is suspected of being one of the most important members of the organization. Wanted.

16. Code-name Aris. Identity unknown.

17. Code-name Nikolakis. Identity unknown. Seems to have recruited Telios.

18. Code-name Sardanapalos. According to journalistic information one of the founding members of November 17.

19. A woman whose identity is unknown suspected of being one of the members of the founding team.

20. A second woman who participated in supporting actions.

Deceased

21. Giannis Skandalis, code-name The Count. Killed in a car accident in 1994.

22. Ojurk Hanuz, code-name Apostolis. Turkish citizen. Seems to have died of natural causes.

[02] NEXT TARGETS: KOUFONTINAS - SARDANAPALOS - ANNA

The cofounder of N17, known as Sardanapalos, one woman member of the organization known as Anna, as well as Dimitris Koufontinas, are the next targets of the police authorities.

According to information, Anna participated in the murder of CIA Station Chief Richard Wells, on December 23, 1975, as well as in the first strikes of the organization, while according to Ta Nea newspaper, she had friendly relations with the suspected chief of the organization, Alexandros Giotopoulos. But she has left no trail, and Giotopoulos does not seem to be giving any information.

Sardanapalos had very close relations with Pavlos Serifis, and was quite possibly the connecting link between the members of the organization. He is approximately 60 years old, and seems to have participated in the Wells killing and to have had implications with the ELA and May 1st organizations.

Thorough searches are taking place around the country, to locate Dimitris Koufontinas, while arrests are expected of two more women of the Xeros team.

[03] N17 ARE THE "KIDS" AND ELA ARE THE "PARENTS"

The Company, meaning November 17, call themselves the kids, while their parents were the Revolutionary People's Struggle (ELA)

This is the most important fact Konstninos Telios mentioned in his preliminary testimony, since it is the first time that a N17 member supported that this organization was proceeded by the founding of ELA, the members of which according to the testimony took over in order to guide as the parents of the N17 youngsters.

Also, from Markos' testimony, published by the Eleftherotypia today, it is evident that the button in the Paleokrassas attempted murder, during which a passer-by Axarlian was killed, was pressed by Dimitris Koufontinas.

Furthermore, the accused, categorically supports that:

He could cannot identify Lambros because whenever he met him he was either wearing a mask or they were separated by a semi-translucent glass door, while he gave all the evidence he had concerning the man that seems to have been one of his first connections to N17.

He insinuated that organization members had killed turncoats, while he spoke of another hideout in Ampelokipi.

[04] THREE HIDEOUTS IN THESSALONIKI

There are two hideouts and one headquarters used by November 17 in the previous decade, according to the Macedonia newspaper. According to the publication, two of the specific apartments stopped being used in 1996, while the third, which is in downtown Thessaloniki, was the organization's headquarters in 1999, when the terrorists were preparing an attack on a KFOR convoy.

The publication mentioned that all three apartments are very near to the apartment in the basement of Charalambous 1 st., which police investigations have shown was used as a temporary site to store the military material stolen from the Sykourio military camp.

[05] THE US WANT ALL OF N17 CONVINCTED

While the interest in Greece is concentrated only on capturing members of November 17, in Washington they already discussing and deciding on the day after: The trials of terrorism suspects, the expected convictions the Americans wish, and the possible statutory limitation of all crimes of the suspects for terrorism activity that were committed from 1975 to 1982, are the daily concern of the Bureau of South Europe, the Counter Terrorism Service of the State Department and the CIA.

Their only care, as the Imerisia newspaper reports from Washington, is to avoid the possibility of the statute of limitations running out and if that happens something they wish against they are looking into ways of punishing the suspects for murders of US citizens in US Federal Courts.

At the moment, and in the light of the shocking developments on the terrorism front, the US, who have daily commendations and congratulations for the Greek police, are interested in two things:

Firstly: They wish for whomever participated in terrorism activity, whether that be murders or bombings or much simpler crimes, to be tried and convicted.

Secondly: The statute of limitations which writes off any crimes committed before 1982, not only bothers them, but some of the bureaucrats, who are anti-Greek, seem ready for conflict, which would definitely lead to a major crisis in Greek-American relations.

US Ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller, who went to Washington where he informed his superiors of the success of the Greek Police, is very careful as well as calm, and refuses to pour oil on the fire, a position he has held since his first day of arrival in Athens.

He stresses the excellent so far cooperation of Greek and US authorities, and in his in private discussions, would swear that Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will not let anyone get away with anything, primarily because it is in Greece's best interest.

Michalis Chrysochoidis, the guarantee

Another factor that has convinced the US Ambassador on Athens' good intentions, is the Greek Minister of Public Order, Michalis Chrysichoidis, who is now the most popular politician in America and the guarantee-man that the guilty parties will be made examples of. We will not let anyone get away with anything, no matter who they are, is what Mr. Chrysochoidis seems to have said to the US Ambassador, in one of their latest overseas telephone conversations.

[06] INVESTIGATION FOR N17'S INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS

The statements of lieutenant commander of the Turkish General Security, Fejulah Arzlan, concerning connections between November 17 and the Turkish DHKP-C organization, caused the reaction of government spokesperson Christos Protopapas, who stressed the need to stick to official briefings and not adopt scenarios and surrounding discussions.

The government spokesperson underlined that the Chief of the Counter-Terrorism Service, Mr. Syros, informed the Turkish charge d' affairs on the progress of the investigations, in the presence of Mr. Skopelitis. If international connections of November 17 are proven, there will be an official briefing, he stated.

However, he excluded the possibility of Def Sol functioning in Greece, and attributed the anonymous faxes sent to newspapers as announcements of the organization to an unknown sender.

There is no number, nor any other kind of evidence on the faxes sent, which are written in fluent Greek. They do not point to a foreigner, he underlined.

[07] SERIFIS SAYS IT ALL

P. Serifis (a.k.a. the Kid, Vaggelis and Nikitas) turned 180 degrees surprisingly, after having refused any implication in terrorist attacks twice, confessed his participation in the first period of November 17's action (1975-1980) and pointed to Alexandros Giotopoulos as the indisputable leader of N17, in fact attributing 3 murders to him.

According to information, P. Serifis who is the first member of N17's original generation to admit his participation, spoke, and testified that Al. Giotopoulos was the leader of N17 and the gunman in the murder of CIA Station Chief Richard Wells in December of 1975, as well as that of lieutenent commander of the Greek Police Special Forces, P. Petrou, and his driver, S. Stamoulis, in Pagrati, in January 1980. He supported that he participated in those operations as well, as a lookout, when he was 19 years old (Wells murder).

[08] NEW REVELATIONS BY KOSTAS TELIOS

Terrorist group 17 November member Kostas Telios revealed another name in his testimony and at the same time, he gave information on the relations of 17N with the terrorist group ELA, the weapons stolen from the Sikourion Army Camp and the terrorist group finances.

The new name is Elias Gaglias. Telios had met him through Koufodinas in the Aegean island of Ikaria in 1987 and had the code-name Nikolakis. According to Telios, Nikolakis had disappeared for a long period of time and last year he had with him a chance encounter in Thessaloniki.

[09] SHELL: MAJOR OLYMPIC GAMES SPONSOR

The fuel company SHELL became a major sponsor for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

SHELL offered 5.56 million Euro in cash, while it will also supply the refueling installations in the ATHENS 2004 car depot that will serve the organization's car fleet during the Olympic Games.

[10] VENIZELOS-ROGGE MEETING

The course of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games' preparations, the course of the Cultural Olympiad program and the developments in the issue of terrorism, were among the topics discussed in the meeting held yesterday between Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and International Olympic Committee, IOC, President, Jacques Rogge.

Mr. Rogge is visiting Greece on the occasion of the International Olympic Academy Summit meeting in ancient Olympia, southern Greece. He said that he is satisfied with the progress of the Olympic projects adding, however, that there are still obstacles to overcome.

Commenting on the developments in the case of the terrorist group 17 November, he said that it is a very significant development as the issue of the Olympic Games' security is a major one and it was raised since 1998 in the talks he had then with Prime Minister Simitis.

The Culture Minister pointed out that he will convey the contents of the meeting to the Prime Minister and thanked Mr. Rogge for the effective and reliable way in which he handles the issues that arise.

[11] WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY PRAISES GREECE FOR ITS EFFORTS AGAINST TERRORISM

US White House press secretary Ari Fletcher, characterized as a success of the Greek government the latest police operations against terrorist group 17 November, responding to a question by a reporter during the scheduled briefing of the members of the press.

He stressed that the Greek success proves that similar successes can be recorded in many other parts of the world as well if there is good cooperation at a diplomatic level. He concluded by saying that Greece is a US partner in the effort to combat terrorism.

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article