΄I was born on November 17th΄: the memoir of an unrepentant terrorist

In his book, Dimitris Koufodinas claims he wishes to account for his decisions and actions. “I from my side, took my personal responsibility. And now in first person, I talk of my life’s journey, the development of the ideological and political identity which turned me in to the ‘Antonis’ [Koufodinas’s code name] of the illegal struggle.”

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TPPI Explainer: Who is Dimitris Koufodinas? (click to expand)
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Dimitris Koufodinas is an imprisoned member of the Greek terrorist group November 17, a marxist urban guerrilla organization that was disrupted in 2002 with most or all of its members imprisoned. Koufodinas is believed to have been one of the group’s leaders and specifically its treasurer, handling the group’s finances which came primarily from robberies (although all of the group’s funds have never been found by authorities). Following a wave of arrests of November 17 members after a botched bombing left one of them injured, Koufodinas turned himself into authorities on the 5th of May, 2002. He was convicted of involvement in 11 assassinations and other terrorist activities and sentenced to 11 life sentences. From 1975 onwards, the Revolutionary Organization 17 November, as was its full name, assassinated 23 people in 103 attacks on U.S., British, Turkish and Greek targets. Its first target was Richard Welch, CIA station chief in Athens. The group was named after the day of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising against the military junta.
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In his book, Dimitris Koufodinas claims he wishes to account for his decisions and actions. “I from my side, took my personal responsibility. And now in first person, I talk of my life’s journey, the development of the ideological and political identity which turned me in to the ‘Antonis’ [Koufodinas’s code name] of the illegal struggle.”

It is the second time over the past couple of months that November 17 are back in the spotlight following the failure of another convicted member of the group, Christodoulos Xiros, to return from prison leave after it had been granted to him by authorities in early January. He is now considered a dangerous fugitive.

Following his disappearance Xiros, via an online video declared that he was resuming his armed struggle. A document uploaded with the video was signed ‘Christodoulos Xiros, free member of November 17’. However speculation that the group would be resurrected was then contradicted by Koufodinas, among others, who stated that, the ‘historic cycle’ of November 17 had come to an end in 2002.

In his memoir, Koufodinas remains entirely unrepentant for all of the targeted killings and other criminal activities perpetrated by the organisation. The only ‘tragic mistake’ made by November 17, he writes, was the killing of Thanos Axarlian, a 20-year-old bystander who was fatally wounded in 1992 by shrapnel from a rocket fired by the group in an attempt on the life of the then Finance Minister, Giannis Paleokrassas.

Koufodinas’s book is being released by ‘Livanis Editions’, one of Greece’s leading publishing houses, which attempted in a statement to protect itself from criticism by distancing itself from the ideology of the convicted terrorist. The editor’s note writes, “We believe that all aspects of Greek history in critical and disputed historical periods should be illuminated. With faith in this principle of exploration of critical phases in political and historical development and with the sole purpose of shedding abundant light we moved ahead with the release of this book.”

Yet the book is not without doses of sensationalism. Aside from Koufodinas’s attempts to justify the violence perpetrated by November 17 in the context of a wider political struggle, other passages appear straight out of a hardboiled crime novel, such as this excerpt printed on the book’s back cover:

“That night in Sepolia there were a lot of hiccups. We were four, we had noticed a van. On Avlonos street as we were coming down Rodou Street.

The two patrol cars had come down Rodou Street, the first rounded the corner with Avlonos then it reversed. One guy jumped out, a cowboy. With his revolver drawn and the arrogance of power he ordered, “Put your hands up!” He had knocked on the wrong door. We dived behind the parked cars. We traded gunfire. The cowboy took cover. I think he was hit by a bullet. Later, after the shots he fired at me. The others were covered by the two patrol cars that had come down Rodou. We were shooting sporadically. We didn’t have many bullets. One at a time, to keep them pinned down while we escaped.

We withdrew to Avlonos. I took a hand grenade from a comrade. I threw it behind the police’s fortified positions. Right when they were regaining their nerve and coming out from their shell. They hid again. One of them had come out into the middle of the road with an automatic, ready to fire. He would have hit us. He would have hit the people gathered behind us. That’s where I threw the hand grenade, to force him to take cover. In between them. There weren’t people there, nobody was in danger, only the police were wounded, were frightened and took cover. We withdrew to Avlonos  towards Athinas Bvd. A lot of cars had stopped, were blocking the road. Ahead was an old taxi. We pulled the passenger out. We pulled the driver out. “One moment, let me get the cash,” [the taxi driver told me] “Fine, take it” [I replied].

The police on Rodou were beginning to poke their heads out. I shouted, “I’m throwing another grenade.” They hid again. First, the guy with the automatic.

A third – or fourth? – patrol car came to Avlonas from the direction of Athinas. He was blocked by the stopped cars. They got out and started shooting from behind, from two, three meters away. We fired back. I started slowly, turned left on Christomanou, left again on Dyrrachiou, left  again on Agiou Meletiou. We heard a siren behind us. I said we should throw grenades. They weren't chasing us, they were transporting their wounded. When they heard the explosions they disappeared at dizzying speed.