Revolutionary trio claim terror hits

Three of the six suspected members of Revolutionary Struggle have publicly accepted what they called «political responsibility» for a string of shootings and bombings since 2003 that caused widespread damage but no deaths. In a letter to the Pontiki weekly, Nikos Maziotis, the group’s alleged ringleader, his partner Panayiota Roupa and Costas Gournas, who is alleged to have managed the organization’s money, admitted to their role in the attacks and vowed to continue opposing the establishment. «As long as we are alive, as long as we live and breathe, we will do whatever we can to scupper criminal plans that harm common people,» they said in a letter that was littered with references to Greece’s economic woes and its appeal for help to the International Monetary Fund. In the letter, Maziotis, a self-proclaimed anarchist, Roupa and Gournas confirm that Lambros Fountas, the microbiologist whose death led to their arrests, was a member of the group. Fountas was shot dead by police as he attempted to steal a car on March 10 and subsequent searches of his property led police to the six suspects. The fact that the three other alleged Revolutionary Struggle members arrested – Sarantos Nikitopoulos, Vangelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis – did not sign the letter suggests that they intend to deny any role in the group when their cases go to trial. A prosecutor yesterday ordered all six suspects to allow DNA samples to be taken as police attempt to match them with evidence taken from the properties rented by the group. It was also decided that the judicial investigation would be handed to magistrates Dimitris Mokkas and Constantinos Baltas, who are also probing the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.