A Piraeus court unanimously accepted a request by convicted N17 terrorist Savvas Xiros for a fiive-month temporary and conditional release from prison to undergo treatment at Thessaloniki's AHEPA Hospital. Xiros is serving five consecutive life sentences, with an additional 25 years, for his participation in the ultra-leftist "November 17" urban terror gang. He was arrested in June 2002 at the port of Piraeus when he was seriously injured during a explosion of a bomb he was placing. The blast resulted in his loss of eyesight in one eye, the partial loss of vision in the other, while blowing away part of his right hand. His attorney also claimed that his client suffers from hearing loss and extensive swelling in both legs due to some type of unnamed virus, which he said was contracted in prison.
The 17 November terrorist organization was a radical leftist group which was apparently established in 1975 and named so for the student uprising in Greece in November 1973 that protested the ruling military junta. It functioned as an anti-Greek establishment, anti-United States, anti-Turkey, and anti-NATO group that sought the ouster of US bases from Greece, the removal of Turkish military forces from Cyprus, and the severing of Greece’s ties to NATO and the European Union (EU). According to reports, initial attacks included assassinations of senior US officials and Greek public figures. The group is suspected to have began with bombings in the 1980s. After 1990, it expanded its targets to include EU facilities and foreign firms investing in Greece. Reports also claim that it funded its actions largely through bank robberies.
A failed bomb attempt in June 2002 at the Port of Piraeus in Athens, coupled with robust detective work, led to the arrest Savvas Xiros and a further 18 members. At least 15 members, five of whom were given multiple life terms, were convicted of countless crimes. Four other alleged members were acquitted for lack of evidence. (source http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/45323.pdf)
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