Ten Suspects Face Terrorism Charges in Greece

A Greek prosecutor charged 10 people on Wednesday on terrorism charges including a series of recent bomb and hand grenade attacks and a planned parcel bomb explosion at a court in Thessaloniki this month.

Four suspects are already in prison for other crimes, police said in a statement after the remaining six were arrested. Police said they confiscated guns, explosives, cell phones, and other electronic devices after raiding nine apartments and three jail cells.

The ten charged, four of whom are prisoners, are being prosecuted on a case-by-case basis for the following offenses:

– Directing, recruiting, and forming a criminal organization
– Terrorist act of attempted homicide
– Terrorist act of explosion continuously carried out and attempted
– Terrorist act of manufacture, possession, and supply of explosives
– Terrorist act of possession of arms
– Terrorist act of physical damage

They are expected to respond to the charges on Sunday.

The case concerns the group “Sympraxi Ekdikisis” (Revenge Partnership), which has claimed responsibility for three terrorist actions via a known anti-establishment website.

These include:

– A grenade attack on the vehicle of a prison officer in Haidari in July 2023

– A bomb attack against a construction company in Kifissia in November 2023

– A bomb explosion at a National Bank building in Petralona on January 25, 2024

– A planned parcel bomb attack against a judge at a courthouse in Thessaloniki this month

The parcel, sent to a senior judge, contained explosive material but was confiscated by police before it exploded.

In a statement uploaded on the Athens Indymedia website last week, the anarchist group claimed responsibility for the makeshift bomb and warned of more attacks against prosecutors, police, and judges, including the judge who was meant to receive the parcel.

Terrorism resurgence in Greece?

Officials have expressed fears of a resurgence of terrorism in Greece. Earlier in February, a bomb exploded in the heart of Athens across the Ministry of Labor.

Initially, Greek Police (ELAS) believed the bomb that exploded early in the morning was intended to destroy a bank on Stadiou Street. However, further investigations revealed the actual target was the government building on the opposite side of the street.

Police experts now believe the bombing is part of an organized and extensive plan to use urban guerrilla tactics in Greece’s capital. They also believe it was a symbolic act and wasn’t meant to lead to any victims.

Last week, police were placed on high alert after phone calls to TV stations warned about the placement of bombs in the embassies of Israel, Egypt, and the US in Athens, as well as at the Parliament.

Special bomb squad teams that rushed to the embassy buildings in Athens found no explosive devices, leading experts to conclude it was a hoax. Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis recently said the government will not allow a terrorism resurgence in Greece.

“We are not going to let terrorism be revived,” he stressed speaking to SKAI television. “We will not allow it.”

“Some brazen and dangerous people did an act that could endanger the lives of our fellow citizens,” Chrysochoidis said. “We will do everything we can so that the perpetrators of such criminal acts are brought to justice and punished.”