Suspected anarchist bombers go on trial in Greece
The trial of 13 suspected members of a Greek radical anarchist group that has staged bomb attacks against state buildings and foreign embassies opened Monday in a high-security prison in Athens.
The suspects, aged between 19 and 30, are facing charges of "belonging to a terrorist organisation" for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy of fire nuclei outfit that in November sent a wave of parcel bombs to foreign missions in Athens and a trio of European leaders abroad. The charge is punishable by 10 to 25 years in prison.
Nine suspects are appearing in court while four are still at large and will be tried in absentia.
The trial, presided by three judges and without a jury, opened in a converted courtroom inside Athens' high-security Korydallos prison, where the members of two other Greek extremist groups, November 17 and Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA), have been tried in the past.
The Police were out in force around the building, an AFP correspondent said, and a handful of people rallied in support of the suspects.
Seen as the latest generation in a three-decade run of far-left extremism in Greece — legacy of a brutal military dictatorship — conspiracy became prominent in 2008 with a series of attacks against the homes and offices of politicians.
The organisation has shown a growing aptitude in handling explosives and unlike other Greek groups who were silenced by the police arrests, it has apparently survived two waves of roundups to continue its attacks.
In December, just weeks after police raided several safe houses and caught two of its alleged members, the group placed a time bomb outside a court in Athens and used it to threaten justice officials ahead of the trial.
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