Four out of the seven people accused of being members of extreme-right group Combat 18 Hellas were led to prison pending trial on Saturday, after their testimonies before the investigative magistrate.
After testifying for several hours, the prosecutor and the investigative magistrate decided to jail the alleged leaders of the group, a 35- and a 45-year old, whose phone calls wer intercepted by police, as well as a 22-year old man. They are accused of a number of felonies, including running a criminal organization Judicial authorities also decided to temporarily release the other three, among which a lawyer from Piraeus, imposing restrictions on their movement.
Those led to prison deny their involvement in the far-right group, but accepted other charges, such as assaults. The 35-year-old man apologized for his actions saying he is a “Greek patriot who admires [Greek Revolution hero Theodoros] Kolokotronis”, that he considers Macedonia Greek and Turks as “age-old enemies”, sources said. He also reportedly told the investigative magistrate that the actions he preferred were “spraying graffiti’s and burning the Turkish flag.”
The youngest suspect claimed he has no connection to the criminal group and that his only involvement is that he tried to make a petrol bomb.
The arrests were a result of Greek counter-terrorism squad sweeps this week to identify a far-right criminal organisation that has allegedly been involved in explosions, arsonist attacks and vandalisms of Jewish cemeteries and monuments.
