Another arrest was announced by police in Athens on Monday in relation with an urban terrorism-related an apartment explosion late last month that left one man – the alleged bomb-maker – dead and another woman seriously injured.
The explosion, which left an apartment building in the central Athens district of Ampelokipi mostly uninhabitable, has been linked to the activity of militant anti-state, anti-establishment groups in the Greek capital.
The latest suspect arrested on Monday in the upscale district of Psychiko was identified as a 31-year-old man with a criminal record.
Later reports identified as the suspect as Nikos Romanos, who previously served a sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping before his early release on probation after six years of incarceration. Romanos had been linked to anti-state, anti-establishment activity in the country.
File photo: Nikos Romanos is shown shortly after his arrest on armed robbery charges in 2014. One of the related developments at the time were media reports that Greek Police’s (EL.AS) press office at the time had released photo-shopped images of Romanos and the other suspects without the brushing on their faces. The suspects had used assault-style weapons in their unsuccessful bank robbery and were also charged with resisting arrest.
Roughly a decade ago, he emerged as a cause celebre for the self-styled anarchist movement in Greece after being granted furloughs to attend tertiary education studies while still an inmate, and after going on a 31-day hunger strike. The issue at the time was among the factors that pushed the Greek judiciary to adopt electronic tagging devices to be worn by remanded individuals granted certain types of bail, parole on furloughs.
While still a teenager, Romanos stood next to his friend, 16-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, on the evening of Dec. 6, 2008, when the latter was fatally shot in the chest by a single round fired by a special police guard in Athens’ Exarchia district.
The incident generated a firestorm of reaction and street protests in Athens and other cities around Greece, which on several occasions turned into widespread rioting and vandalism.
Five years later Romanos and several accomplices were arrested in the northern Greece prefecture of Kozani after attempting to rob a local bank and subsequently hijacking a passing motorist in an attempt to elude police.
In the present day, law enforcement sources cited by local media on Monday claimed the man’s fingerprint was found on a bag with weapons inside. The latter were found inside the apartment.
Romanos is expected to face a first arraignment before a relevant prosecutor on Tuesday.
Another man, 31, the injured and hospitalized woman, 33, and another 30-year-old woman have been arrested.
The trio face a bevy of felonies, including a charge of creating and operating a terrorist organization.
The hospitalized woman, who was found by first responders badly wounded inside the apartment, has denied the charges against her, condemned the publication of her identity and requested another week before making a formal statement before an investigating magistrate.
According to reports, she’ll remain under police guard at an Athens-area hospital until she’s able to be formally remanded.
The two other suspects have also denied any involvement in the bomb-making and potential terror acts.
