Marfin Bank firebombing suspects given until Friday

Four people who were questioned over the weekend in connection to the firebombing of a bank in central Athens last May that led to three employees being killed, have been given until Friday to make depositions concerning the incident.

Three of the four suspects were released following questioning by the police on Friday, almost a year to the day since the attack. The fourth person faced a prosecutor because when police searched his home they found a bow and arrow, a slingshot and a collapsible baton.

Skai TV reported that three of the suspects are aged 21, 25 and 36. Their homes in the central neighborhood of Exarchia and in Kypseli were reportedly searched.

The attack on the branch of Marfin Bank on Stadiou Street took place on May 5 last year during a large protest against the austerity measures that had just been announced by the government as part of its 110-billion-euro bailout package.

Angeliki Papathanasopoulou aged 32 and Paraskevi Zoulia 35, and 36-year-old Epaminondas Tsakalis died of asphyxiation after assailants smashed the bank?s windows and threw Molotov cocktails inside. Papathanasopoulou was four months pregnant.

Police have studied CCTV footage of the incident last May and have spoken to numerous witnesses, including those who saw an attack on the Ianos bookstore moments earlier. It is thought that the suspect who faced a prosecutor on Friday is being questioned in connection with this attack, which did not result in any injuries.

Police have defended the fact that it has taken them a year since the incident to make headway with their investigation. Sources told Kathimerini that it has been difficult to make progress because the attackers had their faces covered and were wearing surgical gloves during the attacks.