‘Fairy tale is over,’ brother of escaped terrorist says
Savvas Xeros, the brother of escaped convict Christodoulos Xeros, on Thursday ruled out the prospect of disbanded November 17 terrorist group being resurrected.
“This fairy tale is over; that group, which had a very specific mentality, is no more,” Xeros told Alpha radio from the maximum security prison of Korydallos where he is serving five consecutive life sentences plus an additional 25 years for taking part in five assassinations and robberies, among other criminal activities.
On Monday, Christodoulos Xeros, who disappeared earlier this month while on a prison furlough, posted a video and a letter on the Internet heralding his return to terrorism and appealing to members of leftist and anarchist guerrilla groups to unite in armed action in protest against ongoing austerity in Greece.
In his radio interview Thursday, Savvas Xeros also took a distance from the new generation of terrorists in Greece.
“Back then, it was more than a group of popular avengers trying to restore justice. It was armed propaganda,” he said.
In a letter to Efimerida ton Syntakton daily published on Thursday, jailed N17 member Dimitris Koufondinas also criticized Christodoulos Xeros, adding that the organization is over.
“As I have said before, N17’s circle of life has closed. I said it in 2002, when I was defending the honor of the organization and the revolutionary values that were belittled by the confessions and hurt by the great silence. That is when N17 came to an end,” Koufodinas wrote in the letter sent from the high-security prison in southeastern Athens.
