ATHENS, May 21 - Alexandros Giotopoulos, aged 82 and identified as the mastermind of the defunct Greek guerrilla organisation November 17, has been freed from Korydallos high-security prison in Athens, two police sources said on Thursday.
Giotopoulos was taken into custody in 2002 as police dismantled the Marxist group. A Greek court convicted him and other members in 2003. He maintained his innocence during proceedings, but an appeals court in 2007 sentenced him to 17 life terms plus a further 25 years in prison.
The sources said Giotopoulos was released on Thursday after a judicial panel approved a request he had filed in 2025. Media reports indicated that the request referenced health issues as the reason for seeking release.
Background on the group
November 17 is credited with carrying out 23 killings over a 27-year period. Its campaign began in 1975 with the fatal shooting of Richard Welch, who served as a CIA station chief in Athens. Over subsequent years the group targeted a range of officials and figures, including a U.S. Navy captain, a Turkish diplomat and others. The group’s last known fatal attack was the killing of British defence attaché Stephen Saunders in 2000.
The organisation took its name from the date in 1973 when the then military dictatorship suppressed a student uprising. While the group initially focused attacks on senior Greek and foreign officials, during the 1980s it broadened its activities to encompass bombings and bank robberies.
Conditions attached to release
Authorities have imposed conditions on Giotopoulos’s freedom. He must remain within the country, reside at the address he has provided to officials and report regularly to a police station, the police sources said.
Details provided in official statements remain limited in the public record, and media reports are the source for the information that health concerns were cited in the 2025 release request.
Implications and context
The decision by a judicial panel to approve a release request filed in 2025 has led to the implementation of supervised conditions designed to monitor compliance. Beyond those conditions, the public record contains no additional official explanation for the timing or the full rationale behind the panel’s decision.