Greek parliament approves bill allowing house arrest of disabled terrorists, US embassy reacts

Greece's parliament approval on late Friday of a controversial bill which foresees the house arrest of disabled terrorists among other prisoners, has sparked strong reactions by opposition parties, relatives of victims of terrorism and the US embassy in Athens.

The draft bill which allows convicts with serious disabilities to stay under house arrest, wearing a special monitoring bracelet, passed the assembly with the support of the two ruling coalition parties Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Independent Greeks (ANEL).

The government argued that the bill would help resolve the overcrowding problems in Greek prisons and show the humanism of the Greek state, since there were no adequate facilities to cater for disabled inmates.

The fact that one of the beneficiaries of the new law is Savvas Xiros, a 52-year-old key member of the November 17 terrorist group, who has been convicted in 2003 in life imprisonment for his role in dozens of killings, bomb attacks and robberies.

Xiros was arrested in June 2002 severely injured after a failed bombing attempt on a ferry company at the port of Piraeus.

His capture led to the dismantling of Greece's most active terrorist group since 1975. November 17 has been linked to the assassinations of 23 people in more than 100 attacks on Greek, US, British, Turkish and other targets.

Ahead of the vote in parliament dozens of relatives of the group's victims protested against Xiros' release.

Among them was conservative MP Dora Bakogiannis, who lost her husband Pavlos Bakogiannis to a November 17 attack in central Athens in 1989, and Stavroula Axarlian, the mother of a 20-year-old student who was killed in 1992 near Syntagma square during a failed rocket attack against the Economy Minister of the time.

The US embassy in Athens commented on the bill with a statement in social media which reminded one of the killings Xiros has been linked with.

"In honor of our fallen: Captain William Edward Nordeen, US Navy, was serving as the Defense and Naval Attaché at the US Mission to Greece when he was murdered on June 28, 1988 by the terrorist organization November 17," said the statement.

The 51-year-old US Navy officer was driving near Athens when a car bomb was detonated next to him via remote control. He was thrown from the car and killed by the blast. Nordeen was survived by his wife and two children. He was one of five American embassy employees killed by the November 17 terrorist organization.

Savvas Xiros was convicted in the murder of Captain Nordeen, as well as in the March 13, 1991 murder of Ronald Stewart, US Air Force, who was serving at the Hellenikon Air Base in Greece, as well as attacks that killed eight other individuals.

He was convicted for firing a rocket at the US Embassy, for participating in 71 attempted murders, including an attack on a bus carrying US military personnel, for 41 illegal explosions, and for 13 robberies and attempted robberies, the embassy's statement noted.

The statement was sent via Twitter to the accounts of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, SYRIZA and Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, leader of the Right- wing ANEL.
   Source:Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
19/4/15
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