‘Convictions needed’

Miller says there is a long way to go before eradicating terrorism

With 15,000 policemen hot on the trail of fugitive terrorist Dimitris Koufodinas, the fight against terrorism is far from over and may contain some surprises, US Ambassador to Greece Thomas Miller warned in an interview published yesterday.

Asked by daily Eleftherotypia to comment on the view that the arrests of 15 alleged members of the November 17 terrorist gang has ended terrorism in Greece, Miller said: “I do not think the Greek prime minister, the minister of public order and my government share this assessment. I believe, on the contrary, that all of us are on the alert.”

Before talking about the end of terrorism in Greece, Miller said, all November 17 members and collaborators must be arrested, along with the members of other terrorist groups, especially Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA), whose pursuit Miller considers “a very serious case.”

“We must also get convictions... through a process that will leave no doubt about... the application of legal principles,” Miller said.

The US ambassador reiterated that the declarations of former American officials implicating unnamed members, or even ministers, of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) did not represent his government’s official viewpoint. “I think we often place an exaggerated importance on declarations of individuals who represent nothing beyond themselves... My view is that one cannot rush to conclusions without the evidence. Often, when you look for the big story that supposedly lies behind developments, you cannot see the concrete events taking place before your eyes,” he said.

Yesterday, police once again called on the public to provide any information they could about the fugitive Koufodinas. The public is called to report tell-tale signs such as people living in a hitherto uninhabited house, the unexplained presence of a person near cottages, caves and beehives (Koufodinas was an active apiculturist) and any “unusual flow of orders for takeaway food.”

The only apprehended terrorist not yet in jail, Savvas Xeros, is still in hospital, where his health is said to be improving daily. An infection in his hand, injured when the bomb he was about to plant on June 29 went off prematurely, is under control, and his vision is improving, due to special glasses.