Police suspect new group behind killing of two Golden Dawn members
Counterterrorism officers investigating the murder last Friday night of two members of the neofascist Golden Dawn outside the party’s offices in Neo Iraklio, northern Athens, are focusing on a closed circle of suspects linked to attacks that have been claimed by the Sect of Revolutionaries, a terrorist group believed to have been inactive since the murder of the journalist Sokratis Giolias in July 2010, Kathimerini understands.
According to sources, the suspects under investigation either avoided a police crackdown on domestic terrorism in 2009 and 2010 or were among those released after completing the maximum of 18 months in pretrial custody.
Police believe it is quite likely that Friday’s murders were carried out by a new organization comprising members of the Sect of Revolutionaries and other guerrilla groups such as Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire. A proclamation signed by imprisoned members of the latter group last month called for the formation of a “united front” with other terrorist organizations, including the Sect of Revolutionaries. Some police sources refer to the possible emergence of a “second-generation Sect of Revolutionaries,” Kathimerini has learned.
Police are also investigating the possible invovement of Nikos Maziotis, a member of another group, Revolutionary Struggle, who is currently on the run from authorities.
There had been no claim of responsibility for Friday’s shooting by late last night but police published footage from closed-circuit television cameras showing the gunman who shot dead two men and left a third seriously injured.
Manolis Kapelonis, 22 and Giorgos Fountoulis, 27, were buried on Monday. Their relatives had banned politicians and journalists from the funerals.
Alexandros Gerontas, 29, remained in intensive care on Monday but doctors said he had stabilized since Friday night, when he underwent a splenectomy.
