Koufodinas should apologize, says brother of N17 victim

The brother of a victim of the now-defunct November 17 terror group said its hunger-striking hitman should apologize for the 11 murders he committed if he wants relatives to call for a favorable treatment by the state. 

Dimitris Koufodinas, who is serving 11 life sentences for his part in the murders of now defunct terrorist group November 17, started a hunger strike on January 8 and recently stopped drinkig water to protest his transfer from a rural penitentiary in Volos to a high-security prison in central Greece.

“I can no longer read about ‘the hunger strike of the brave K…[Koufodinas]. Only a coward kills from behind,” Antonis Peratikos said in a letter commenting on the ongoing public debate about whether Koufodinas’ demand should be met.

Peratikos said the convicted terrorist and his supporters are appealing to people’s “sensitivity” for his case but Koufodinas is not prepared to do the same for his victims.

If he believes that “life is the highest good,” as the slogans used by his supporters state, then he should apologize for the murders for which he was convicted, Peratikos said in the letter.

“Then, all of us can ask the State for a favorable, once again, treatment,” he added.

Antonis Peratikos is the brother of shipowner Costis Peratikos, who was shot dead by November 17 in Piraeus in 1997.