Convicted 17 November terrorist leader gets 3-day prison leave; Athens mayor outraged

The 78 year old convicted leader of the former terrorist group November 17, Alexandros Giotopoulos,  returned to Korydallos prison after a 3 day leave, his first in 20 years reported Kathimerini newspaper

According to the media outlet,  Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis, whose father, Pavlos Bakoyannis, was gunned down by the terrorist group in 1989, was outraged by the news of the 3-day leave.

“Was the leader of November 17 given a three-day leave? In secret? I mean, at least quietly? And on the anniversary of Thanos Axarlian’s murder? Is it true? Open and clear explanations are required,” he tweeted.

Per Kathimerini, Axarlian was a 20-year-old student killed during a botched assassination attempt by November 17 on July 14, 1992, against then economy minister Yiannis Paleokrassas.

In September this year it will be 33 years, since Pavlos Bakogiannis, the Greek politician and magazine publisher, was gunned down and murdered outside of his office building in Athens by the Giotopoulos-led terrorist organization 17 November.

Bakogiannis was born in 1935 in a small village in Evritania, Central Greece. His father was the village priest. He studied in Athens and Munich and worked for Deutsche Welle as a newscaster of their Greek language radio program.

Bakogiannis returned to Athens in 1974, accepting a position at the Greek Radio and Television station ERT. That same year he married Theodora (Dora) Mitsotakis, the daughter of politician Konstantinos Mitsotakis.

In 1982, he became the publisher of the magazine ENA. A few months before his death in June of 1989, Bakogiannis entered politics as an elected member of parliament representing Evritania.

Dimitris Koufodinas, Iraklis Kostaris, and Alexandros Giotopoulos were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Bakogiannis by an Athens court in December 2003.