Pavlos Serifis was allegedly involved in the murder of CIA station chief Richard Welch in 1975, the first act claimed by November 17, when the suspect was 19. But Serifis, due to a statute of limitations, was charged with three other felonies that could still carry a life term.

Pavlos Serifis, a 46-year-old telephone operator at the Aglaia Kyriakou Children’s Hospital in Athens, was charged yesterday with three felonies, including membership of November 17, and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. But he was not charged with involvement in the gang’s first murder in 1975, because of a 20-year statute of limitations.

Prosecutor Ilias Kolliousis charged Serifis, who lost his left hand in a car crash in 1978, with membership of a criminal gang, manufacturing, procuring and possessing explosives in order to assist a criminal organization, and weapons possession. Serifis denied the charges, saying, “I do not approve now nor did I ever approve of terrorist activity.”

Police spokesman Lefteris Economou said the investigation showed Serifis’s continued ties with the gang. “He is an old member of the November 17 terrorist organization and used the code names Vangelis and Nikitas. He took part with other members of the November 17 terrorist organization in the murder of the CIA station chief in Athens, Richard Welch, on December 23, 1975, in Palaio Psychico. He would at times receive various amounts of money from November 17’s fund and was aware of its criminal activities and decisions,” Economou said.