N17 trial: Prosecutors demand life
 |
Giotopoulos was convicted of planning several murders.
Story Tools
|
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- A Greek prosecutor has recommended life sentences for members of the November 17 terror group for their roles in decades of murders, bombings and other crimes.
Prosecutor Christos Lambrou on Wednesday asked a judicial panel to sentence Alexandros Giotopoulos -- considered the ringleader of the group -- to 21 life terms.
Giotopoulos, 59, was found guilty Monday of planning numerous murders, including that of the British attaché Stephen Saunders, after a nine-month trial.
Dimitris Koufodinas, considered the group's key hit man, has been recommended for 14 life sentences by Lambrou.
Sentences are expected to be handed down next week as the court begins a two-day recess and are not expected to differ from the recommendations.
Fifteen November 17 members were convicted Monday, with prosecutors asking for life sentences for six of them.
The remaining nine members could receive jail terms of up to 18 years, although four members will serve reduced sentences for cooperating with authorities. Another four members of the group were acquitted.
Nearly two dozen prominent Greeks as well as Turkish and U.S. diplomats were also among the group's victims.
Saunders, 53, was shot four times by two assailants riding a motorcycle while traveling to work In June 2000, during the morning rush hour on the busy Kiffisias avenue in Athens. He died three-and-a-half hours later.
The brigadier was the last victim in November 17's 28-year campaign of terror.
N17 has claimed responsibility for 23 killings since its first in 1975
|
|
A proclamation from the group at the time claimed Saunders was gunned down because of Britain's role in the NATO attacks on Yugoslavia in 1999.
The group is blamed for dozens of armed robberies, hundreds of bombings and 23 killings since 1975, including the death of Richard Welch, who was the CIA station chief in Athens.
Police have long said that the November 17 terrorist group was believed to be a small, close-knit group.
The group is named after the date of a student uprising in 1973 against the military junta then ruling Greece.
Greek police have been anxious to break the group ahead of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
