Greece Begins Trial of Terror Suspects Under Heavy Security

ATHENS, Greece -- Amid heavy security, Greece today began trying 13 alleged members of a militant anarchist group linked to a spree of attacks, including a letter bomb campaign that spilled into neighboring European states last year.

Hundreds of policemen stood watch at the courtroom within a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Athens to guard against anticipated anarchist reprisals.

The accused -- 12 men and one woman -- allegedly belong to the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, a mob of militant anti-capitalists that authorities say they have cracked but have not yet crushed after years of elusive operation.

All but four of the defendants appeared before the special court Monday; the rest are wanted by police and being tried in absentia. If convicted, they may face up to life imprisonment.

The start of the trial today focused mainly on procedural matters, with defense lawyers petitioning against what they called "prejudicial" and "unprecedented" security measures for the defendants. They also demanded the release of their clients, who were kept in handcuffs throughout the proceeding.

The trial is the first of a militant group since the 2003 prosecution of 17 members of Greece's deadliest terrorist organization, known as November 17.

The defendants, all between the ages of 20 and 26, sat restlessly in the bunker-style courtroom, waving and smiling to relatives and friends in between rowdy shouting matches with the bench.

"If we're going to be shuffled around with handcuffs, then we will leave," said Harris Hadjimichelakis, a self-proclaimed leading member of the group. "Let's get out of here," he told his confederates, stirring scenes of unrest in the chamber.

Since bursting onto Greece's turbulent political scene in 2008, the group, commonly known by its Greek acronym SPF, has been linked to about 200 bomb attacks, one of which resulted in the death of a bystander in March 2009. SPF went silent for months after that, but made a stunning comeback in November when it was linked to a barrage of parcel bombs against diplomatic missions in Greece and three European leaders.

Most of the 14 bombs were detected and destroyed, but one managed to reach the mail room of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, inspiring Italy's Informal Anarchist Federation, or FAI, to pursue a copycat campaign weeks later.

The flare-up has the European Union's police agency worried. While no operational links have been verified between SPF and FAI, both Mediterranean countries, plus Spain, have become the breeding grounds for some of Europe's most militant anarchists.

In 2010 alone, according to data received by the European Union last week, attacks by far-left and militant anarchist groups surged by about 100 percent, compared with a 43 percent spike recorded in 2009, already double the rate from 2007.

Monday's trial is seen as a critical stage in Greece's anti-terrorism efforts. But much about SPF -- from its bizarre emblem to its organizational structure and strength -- is still cloaked in mystery, and authorities admit they have yet to get a handle on the group's goals.

Since its debut three years ago, SPF has evolved from a small clan of anarchist acquaintances targeting symbols of wealth, power and the state with crude pressure-cooker bombs to an organized network of interlocking cells with overlapping obsessions and stockpiles of sophisticated gear. The latter range from Austrian-made safe pistols and industrial explosive agents to a state-of–the-art laminating machine used to make fake identification cards.

Its members, according to the gang's proclamations, preach "revolutionary anarchy and nihilism," emphasizing their militant objectives against society.

In one of his most recent tracts, for example, Hadjimichelakis railed against the establishment, saying, "I refuse to compromise. I viciously attack anything that confines us, insults us, subjugates us. The choice of a revolutionary is continuous and unyielding."

Left-wing terror and anarchy riddled much of Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. But as political violence fizzled in the later decades, it continued to simmer in Greece, gaining fresh appeal -- and new recruits -- after violent student protests resulting from the police killing of a teenage boy in 2008.

"That turn of events created a moral obligation for SPF to pull up its socks, stop playing around and appear more sophisticated and political," said Brady Kiesling, a former U.S. diplomat who is writing a book on Greek terrorism.

Austerity measures enacted in Greece and other debt-choked nations across Europe recently have added to the groups' appeal.

"It is a much more generalized phenomenon now and no longer involves a very small number of people," criminologist Angelos Tsigris told Skai television.