A former labor chief who survived a terrorist assassination attempt in 1987 told a court trying five Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) terrorism suspects yesterday that senior police officers had ignored crucial information regarding the hit.

The May 1 group, believed to have been part of ELA, claimed responsibility for the attack, for which ELA suspect Michalis Kassimis has been charged.

Giorgos Raftopoulos, who was chairman of the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) at the time of the attempt in Aghia Paraskevi, northern Athens, said all senior police officers who had handled his case should be charged with breach of duty. According to Raftopoulos, a witness had given police the registration number of a car one of the terrorists had been driving, but they did nothing about it.

The car belonged to Kassimis — whose brother, Christos, a suspected ELA founding member, died in a 1977 shootout with police — who has denied any link with the attack or with ELA. The trial continues.