Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

OCTOBER FIRST ANTIFASCIST RESISTANCE GROUP • 497sibility, but evidence pointed to another November 17 attack. On 28May 1997 the November 17 assassinated shipping magnate ConstantineParatikos in broad daylight in Athens and later issued a manifestoclaiming that it had targeted him due to his threat to close down hisshipyard, which would have left 2,000 workers unemployed. DuringFebruary–April 1998, the November 17 made six rocket attackson U.S.-owned businesses, including an attack on a Citibank office,prompting Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Louis Freehto meet with Greek officials in September to discuss ways to improvemutual counterterrorism efforts. On 8 June 2000, November 17 assassinson a motorbike killed the British military attaché to Greece,Brigadier General Stephen Saunders, shooting him in the head andchest as he was driving to work on a main avenue. In a communiqué releasedlater to an Athens newspaper, the group claimed the murder wasin retaliation for Great Britain’s role in the NATO campaign againstYugoslavia during 1999. The November 17 group was quite small,having no more than perhaps 25 members. Nonetheless, it proved itselfto be professional and highly successful in carrying out the relativelyfew operations it has conducted, killing 24 people in 25 years.A bungled bombing attempt on 29 June 2002 led to the first arrestof a November 17 member, Savvas Xyros, and documents found inhis apartment led police to the arrests of 18 other suspects, includingthe group’s leader, Alexandros Giotopoulos, which smashed the coregroup of the November 17. The trial began on 3 March 2003 on over2,500 charges relating to the assassinations and accessory activities,and on 8 December 2003, all but four of the 19 defendants, includingGiotopoulos, were convicted with several charges and received lifeterms in prison. Although statements purporting to come from otherNovember 17 members have been issued since the June 2002 arrests,the group appears to have become inactive.– O –OCTOBER FIRST ANTIFASCIST RESISTANCE GROUP(GRAPO). The Grupo de Resistencia Antifascista, Primero deOctubre was a Communist splinter group seeking to overthrow theSpanish state in favor of a Marxist state. GRAPO opposed Spanishmembership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and