Suspect - Terror group targeted American military, not tourists

ATHENS, Greece -- The suspected chief assassin from Greece's deadliest terrorist group told a court Wednesday that November 17 considered all U.S. military personnel, including those on vacation, to be legitimate targets.

Dimitris Koufodinas is on trial with 18 other suspected members of the group, blamed for 23 killings and more than 100 bombings since 1975. Its victims include four American envoys, two Turkish diplomats and Greek political and business figures. Its last victim was a British defense attache killed in June 2000.

During its peak in the mid-1980's, November 17 used remote-controlled bombs in numerous attempts to target U.S. soldiers serving at American military bases then operating around Athens. Most of the attempts failed to kill anyone, but left many injured.

"We decided to attack the criminal mechanism of genocide that is called the American armed forces," Koufodinas, 45, said. "We will continue to hit these killers, either those working on American bases in the country or those that have come for vacations on our islands."

Koufodinas, who has claimed "political responsibility" for the group's actions, was reading from a proclamation issued by November 17 to claim responsibility for a 1984 shooting attack that wounded U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Judd.

A lawyer representing Judd and the families of other American victims earlier told the court that November 17 had no regard for the lives of bystanders and had targeted foreign tourists.

"It is clear we are not talking about American tourists, with whom we have no problem," Koufodinas, known to his cohorts as "poison hand," told the court after being given permission to reply.

The exchange came as the court heard arguments over a defense motion that a new anti-terrorism law used to bring the 18 men and one woman to trial is unconstitutional. The trial has stalled for days over the argument, which also includes a defense claim that November 17's crimes were politically motivated and should be heard by a jury instead of by a panel of judges as under the 2001 law.

Defense lawyers argue the alleged crimes took place before the law came into effect and are demanding that older legislation apply, allowing a trial by three judges and four jurors.

The court was expected to decide on the motion Friday.

More than 500 witnesses are to testify during the trial, which is expected to last for months.

November 17 takes its name from a 1973 student-led uprising that was crushed by Greece's military leaders. The action led to the collapse of the 7-year dictatorship in 1974.

November 17, which held a strict Marxist ideology mixed with shrill nationalism, eluded authorities for years until a botched bombing in 2002 touched off a series of arrests.