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Anastasia Balezdrova

Each passing day, the findings following the unsuccessful bank robbery in the village of Velvendo near Kozani are unravelling the ball of terrorism, showing the connection between the events that have taken place over the last five years.

According to police authorities, the youngest among the captured attackers, Nikos Romanos, was a friend of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who had been killed by a police bullet on 6 December 2008. The murder was followed by unprecedented violent protests during which dozens of buildings and shops in the centre of Athens were burned and destroyed. Nikos, who was 15 at that time, was a direct witness to the death of his friend, which obviously has largely predetermined his next steps.

However, the age of the 19-year-old terrorist, who was charged yesterday with involvement in the "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei" group after comparing his DNA with the biological material that had been found earlier in two of the hiding places of the organization, is not the most interesting part of his identity. Nikos, who was born on 27 January 1993 in Athens, is the son of writer Pavlina Nasiutzik who is the daughter of businessman Athanasios Nasiutzik.

"My motives were political. I consider myself a prisoner of war. I do not consider myself a victim. I will not file a complaint against the policemen who beat me. I want the beating on me to awaken the minds of citizens. I accept only the charge of committing a robbery. I will make a political statement, because no one else except me can express my position".

Nikos like Alexis grew up in the rich northern suburbs of Athens and studied at prestigious private schools, and the last thing anyone would have expected to happen to him would be his involvement in terrorist groups. On the other hand, the course of his life should not surprise anyone, because he had expressed his opposition to the "system" from very early on. The first public manifestation of his intolerance was his refusal to appear as a witness in the case of policeman Epaminondas Korkoneas, who was under trial for the murder of Grigoropoulos. Instead, he had sent a letter to the media stating that the case did not interest him and defining his choice not to appear in the procedures specified by the institutions as a political choice.

He followed the same tactics today. The young man, whom the police have been investigating for involvement in the terrorist group "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei", made through his lawyer a public statement, describing himself as a "prisoner of war".

"My motives were political. I consider myself a prisoner of war. I do not consider myself a victim. I will not file a complaint against the policemen who beat me. I want the beating on me to awaken the minds of citizens. I accept only the charge of committing a robbery. I will make a political statement, because no one else except me can express my position".

photocollage: ethnos.gr

Ioannis Michailidis, aged 25, is the most well known to the public among those who were captured in Velvendo. He is the so-called "shooter in Syntagma". He became known by that name after the protest procession on 4 February 2011, when he was arrested for archery in the square in front of the Greek Parliament. He was afterwards released and banned from leaving the country. A few months later, in late 2011, an arrest warrant was issued against Michailidis for his involvement in the "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei".

He has been out of the sight of the authorities ever since. He left his home in the Athens district of Holargos, which is located near the luxurious northern suburbs, interrupted his studies and went underground. He "appeared" for the last time on the Indymedia web site, which is known for its connection with the anarchist circles, to deny his involvement in the armed robbery of a bank on the island of Paros last summer.

Three arrest warrants for involvement in the same terrorist group against the third of the captured persons- Dimitris Politis - were pending. The young man was born in 1991, he is from the Holargos neighbourhood too and a member of the so-called "Holargos company". According to the authorities, he was a close friend of Michailidis and his role was ancillary at least at the time when the "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei" started its activity.

His name appeared for the first time in the media when the police announced that Politis had rented the hiding place of the organization in the metropolitan district of Kallithea using a fake identity card. The authorities believe he was involved in the bloody assault in front of the police station in the suburb of Pfvki , where his follower and roommate Theodoros Mavropoulos was wounded. Dimitris Politis and Michailidis denied several times their involvement in the "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei" through the web site previously mentioned.

Politis was a student at the University of the Aegean on the island of Lesbos along with the fourth of the persons captured on Friday, namely  Andreas - Dimitris Bourzoukous. He was born in 1989 and he is from the Holargos neighbourhood too. His father is a retired icon painter and his mother is a doctor in the emergency ward.