News Analysis: Questions over group that claims responsibility for GD killings

Fifteen days after the shooting that killed two supporters of the Greek neo-fascist party Golden Dawn, a previously unheard of guerrilla group calling themselves the ‘Militant People’s Revolutionary Forces’ has claimed responsibility for the killings in a written manifesto sent to an Athens based news website.

The 18 page document is filled with anti-establishment as well as anti-fascist invective and claims that the killings were made in retaliation for the fatal stabbing of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fissas by a Golden Dawn supporter in October, an incident it called a ‘turning point.’ The group also said that it had deliberately targeted junior members of Golden Dawn and that anyone who directly or indirectly supported the party would be a potential target.

Niki Kitsantonis writing in the New York Times quotes Mary Bossis, a leading terrorism expert. According to the paper:

“…the proclamation had a “scent of the past,” with the style of its writing reminiscent of “far-left terrorism” not seen here since the early 1990s. “The group’s name may be new, but the people behind it are not new; they come from the same pool,” said Mary Bossis, a professor of international security at the University of Piraeus, near Athens.

Professor Bossis would not speculate about any links between the group behind the document and other organizations, but said it was clear that the new group was appealing to all Greek guerrilla movements to join forces. “There’s a simmering climate, with growing clashes between leftists and far-rightists, and they want to take this to a new level, to armed action,” she said.”

Anti-terrorist police believe that the letter is genuine, yet have stated that the language and arguments are different from those used in the past by other Greek terrorist organisations. Speaking to the Ethnos newspaper (link in Greek) a high-ranking officer with the anti-terrorism unit said, “Even though the language used is very harsh, the ‘spirit’ of the letter is not as nihilistic as we have seen in past such declarations.”

The police also believe, based on the content of the letter, that the writer was not young but part of the ‘old guard.’ They are currently examining the USB stick used to transfer the letter for fingerprints and/or DNA traces.

However some Greek commentators have expressed doubts over the authenticity of the letter with some even implying that the whole operation may be part of a hidden agenda designed to increase political tensions and discredit leftist opposition parties.

Kostas Vaxevanis, the journalist who in 2012 published the ‘Lagarde List’ which contained the names of several thousand wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts (and who was arrested for doing so), argues that the aim of the letter is to confirm the theory of the ‘two extremes.’ This theory, promoted by the government, seeks to draw an equivalence between parties at the far ends of the political spectrum, with violent far-right groups such as Golden Dawn mirrored on the other side by far-left groups including extreme elements of Syriza. Vaxevanis writes:

“The arguments [the group] makes against Golden Dawn and the government are the same arguments that could be made by any informed citizen. However the latter would make them without killing anyone. So in practice, political critiques that are made on a daily basis become identified with the ideology of terrorists.  
It is also the first time that the manifesto of an ‘anti-establishment’ terrorist organisation does not include criticism of leftist parties represented in parliament. This also helps create the impression that since the killers have taken their arguments from the left, it is the left itself that is extremist.”

Stelios Kouloglou, an awarded journalist and documentary filmmaker, also questioned the authenticity of the group that claimed the responsibility for the killings:

“What is most questionable however is the complete lack of evidence from the letter that the writer(s) were in fact involved in the killings. In the past similar such documents always tended to include proof of involvement – such as detailed descriptions of the operations and other evidence – especially in cases such as this when the gun used had not been used in a previous crime… If there is one thing that is certain it is that the vicious cycle of violence will not end with this declaration. It is just one more step in the new phase of the “strategy of tension” that began with the murder of the Golden Dawn supporters.”