Pavlos Bakoyannis

“… At that most important moment of my life, as George opened the dossier, the explosive device it contained went off. The explosion caused the entire Katichaki building to shake. (…) For a few seconds, I remained frozen, motionless, trying to comprehend the situation. Trying to stay as calm as possible, I began shouting the names of the colleagues I knew were still in the office.

The Greek governemnt will present in three months a national strategy to fight terrorism and violent extremism, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Monday, speaking at an event in Athens to honor of victims of terrorism in Greece.

The tragicomic backlash sparked by the unfortunate plan to rename Athens' Evangelismos metro station (which serves the hospital of the same name in the downtown Kolonaki district) Pavlos Bakoyannis, after the late conservative politician who was gunned down in the area 30 years ago by the November 17 terrorist group, was not all bad.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis commemorated the 30-year anniversary of the assassination of politician Pavlos Bakoyannis by the now-defunct terrorist group November 17 in downtown Athens in 1989.
"Thirty years without Pavlos Bakoyannis. We miss him always. He will never cease to inspire us," he wrote in a tweet on his official account.

Plans to rename a key station on the Athens metro after a modern historical figure were shelved on Monday following reactions from the public.

The new mayor of Athens, Costas Bakoyannis, was sworn in Sunday.

The swearing-in took place in the open, at the Akadimia Platonos park, and not at the city hall, as is the custom.

Bakoyannis, 41, until now regional governor of Central Greece, was elected mayor last June 3, in a runoff, with 65.25 percent of the vote.

Under the terms of the new penal code (Article 110A) passed in parliament by the ruling party recently and which is in effect as of 1 July, the convicted leader of the 17N terrorist group Alexandros Giotopoulos and other prominent members can apply for release from prison under the condition that they wear a prison bracelet.

Three 15-year-old boys were reportedly released from custody in Crete on Friday after being remanded over several deeply offensive messages directed at New Democracy lawmaker Dora Bakoyannis that were scrawled in the elevator of her office building in the town of Hania earlier this week.

By George Gilson

The Supreme Court (Areios Pagos) has overturned a ruling of a judicial council in Volos denying the now defunct N17 terrorist organisation's top gun, Dimitris Koufodinas, his seventh consecutive furlough.

Now the Volos Judicial Council will meet again with a new composition to re-examine the request, and it is considered highly likely that it will be granted.

By George Gilson