Greek police arrest fugitive terrorist

Greek police announced on Saturday that they had arrested 56-year-old Christodoulos Xiros, who had been missing for most of the past year.

Xiros, a senior member of the November 17 Marxist guerilla group, had been declared missing by his lawyer on January 6, 2014 after he failed to report at a local police station near the northern town of Halkidiki. Xiros had been granted nine days of leave from Korydallos, Greece's highest security prison so that he could be with his family over the Orthdox Christmas holidays, but under the conditions set out by a court, he was required to check in with police daily.

Police said on Saturday that Xiros was arrested without incident in Anavissos, a coastal town just outside of Athens.

Six life sentences

Xiros, who is serving six life sentences for his role in half a dozen assassinations, released a video a few weeks after going missing, which criticized the Greek government's handling of the country's financial crisis. He also threatened to avenge the pain ordinary Greeks had suffered due to the austerity measures introduced by the government to comply with the international bailouts that have kept Athens from going into default.

The November 17 group is blamed for the assassinations of 23 people, including British, US and Turkish diplomats, in more than 100 attacks carried out between 1975 and 2000. Xiros is among more than 15 members of the group, thought to have disbanded in 2002, who have been convicted of various crimes, including homicide.

pfd/se (dpa, AP, Reuters)