Greek authorities charge 6 over far-left domestic terror group that fired rocket at US embassy

6 charged with left-wing terrorism in Greece

ATHENS, Greece — A Greek prosecutor charged six people Monday with membership in the country’s most active far-left terrorist group, which has claimed a string of bombings and a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

The five men and one woman, aged between 30 and 41, were also charged with multiple counts of attempted homicide, causing explosions, and arms offenses linked with the Revolutionary Struggle organization.

Each faces a maximum 25-year sentence if found guilty on the main charges.

The suspects were arrested in and around Athens on Saturday. Authorities said they found Revolutionary Struggle proclamations and plans for future attacks — including on a police target — in one of the detainees’ homes, but have found no weapons or explosives.

Some of the proclamations were found on a computer hard drive, police said. They added that bullet casings recovered from a wooded hill above Athens indicated that group members had used the area for target practice.

Late Monday, police said a riot police bus was attacked in central Athens by dozens of youths, apparently in support of the terror group suspects. Police detained about 70 people after youths hurled rocks and firebombs at the bus, authorities said. No injuries or serious damage was reported.

Revolutionary Struggle first appeared in 2003, a year after authorities eradicated Greece’s deadliest left-wing group, November 17, and has bombed banks, government buildings and the Athens Stock Exchange, in three cases causing minor injuries to bystanders. Its most spectacular strike was the 2007 rocket-propelled grenade attack on the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy, which caused minor damage but no injuries.

The U.S. government subsequently offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Revolutionary Struggle members.

The group also shot and severely wounded a riot policeman last year. That attack came during a spike in anarchist and far-left violence that followed the fatal police shooting of an Athens teenager in December 2008 and days of rioting in Greek cities.

The six suspects arrived at the main Athens court complex escorted by anti-terrorist police, and were whisked into the prosecutor’s office. When they exited, dozens of people who had gathered to chant slogans in support of the detainees threw plastic bottles and scuffled with police, who responded with pepper spray. Two people were arrested for the disturbance, which followed anarchist groups’ calls for a show of solidarity.

Police said the suspects included Nikos Maziotis, 39, a self-described anarchist jailed for three-and-a-half years for planting a small bomb — which did not explode — outside a ministry building in 1997. According to court documents, authorities believe Maziotis played a leading role in the group.

Maziotis’ pregnant partner, Panayiota Roupa, 41, was also arrested.

Domestic far-left terrorism waned after the eradication of November 17, during a security crackdown ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Since then, Revolutionary Struggle have been the most prominent militants, although since the December 2008 riots two new groups have carried out a string of bomb and gun attacks on symbols of wealth and authority, killing a policeman.

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Associated Press Writer Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report.