The mastermind behind the now-defunct Greek militant organization November 17, responsible for a decades-long campaign of assassinations targeting diplomats, intelligence officials and foreign personnel, has been released from prison, according to two police sources on Thursday.
Alexandros Giotopoulos, 82, was arrested in 2002, when the Marxist group was dismantled by police. Giotopoulos and other members were convicted by a Greek court in 2003. He denied wrongdoing, but an appeals court in 2007 sentenced him to 17 life terms and 25 years imprisonment.
He was released on Thursday from the Korydallos high-security prison in Athens after a judicial panel approved a request he filed in 2025, the sources said. Media reports said his request cited health issues.
The group was behind 23 killings that started in 1975 with the fatal shooting of Richard Welch, a CIA station chief in Athens. They went on to kill a U.S. Navy captain, a Turkish diplomat and other figures. The group's last known hit was British defense attaché Stephen Saunders in 2000.
Çetin Görgü, Press Attaché of the Turkish Embassy in Athens, was assassinated in an attack by the terrorist organization November 17 on Oct. 7, 1991.
November 17 was named after the date in 1973 when Greece's military dictatorship brutally suppressed a student uprising.
While the group's attacks initially targeted senior Greek and foreign officials, in the 1980s it expanded its operations to include bombings and bank robberies. Giotopoulos faces conditions including having to stay in the country, reside at the address provided to authorities and appear at a police station regularly.
