General News: Defendants charged in terror probe refuse to testify

Five of the six defendants facing charges for participation in the terrorist group “Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire” did not testify on Wednesday before appellate-level examining magistrates, as they reportedly refused to recognise the process.

The six were arrested in Athens and Volos early Monday in an ongoing investigation into the urban guerrilla group and are linked with the six suspects arrested last December in Athens’ Nea Smyrni district and Piraeus.

A sixth defendant, Costas Papadopoulos, who was arrested in Athens’ Holargos district, testified in the case, rejecting any relation with the terrorist group. He described himself as a “self-proclaimed anarchist”, alleging that by being implicated in the case his beliefs are being criminalised.

According to an indictment against them, the defendants, with the exception of Papadopoulos, jointly possessed the weapons seized last December by the counter-terrorism squad in Athens’ Nea Smyrni district and Piraeus.

Meanwhile, a fake identity card allegedly used by Mihalis Nikolopoulos, Georgios Nikolopoulos’ brother, to rent an apartment in the Nea Halkidona district was found scanned in a computer seized in December’s police operations.

A fingerprint of Olga Economidou, another defendant in the Volos case, was found in the same apartment.

Meanwhile, in a later announcement, rough drafts of proclamations and proclamations that link the six with the “Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire” group and last November’s parcel bomb campaign targeting foreign embassies, organisations and foreign leaders were found in a laptop on Monday in the Volos apartment.

According to a police statement, a car stolen from the city of Larissa with stolen license plates from a car in Athens was found 1,500 meters away from the Volos apartment. The specific car was stolen in the early morning hours on March 10 and the terrorism suspects were planning to use it in a National Bank of Greece robbery in Volos based on notes found in the apartment.