Fighting Terrorism in Greece: Prevent Attacks But Respect Rights Commentary
Fighting Terrorism in Greece: Prevent Attacks But Respect Rights
Edited by: Jeremiah Lee

JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Maria Alvanou of the Hellenic Police Officers Academy says that new Greek counter-terrorism initiatives should respect the rights and freedoms of Greek citizens even though the tactics of domestic terrorist groups themselves seem increasingly to disregard public opinion…

Greece has recently begun to confront a revival of terrorist activity with a renewed fervor and a new operational methodology. The arrests and convictions of key members of the 17 November group in 2002 clearly failed to end the nation’s struggle with domestic terrorism. After the extremist group Revolutionary Fight launched a rocket-propelled grenade at the US Embassy in Greece in 2007, other attacks followed against police stations and a television station, and a car-bomb (that ultimately did not explode) was planted outside a banking group. Finally, last month's coldblooded murder by the recently formed anarchist Sect of Revolutionaries of an anti-terror squad police officer guarding a key witness to a terrorism case being conducted in central Athens served as a wake-up call to Greek society.

Without a doubt, terrorism constitutes the chief threat faced by modern states, and modern states meet such threats with highly varied and often strict measures. However, the rest of Europe and the USA tend to deal mainly with international rather than domestic terrorism. With the exception of Spain, which has focused a great deal of energy on domestic terrorism at the hands of ETA in the Basque region, the danger posed to the Western world emanates largely from organizations considered to be Islamist extremist and Jihadist. Such organizations tend to use suicide bombings and other violent methods in order to attack the cultural and political identities of Western democracies. Even countries with long traditions of anarchist and leftist domestic terrorism (such as Italy and Germany), seem today to be enjoying a remission of this type of activity, thus enabling them to focus on the danger of international terrorism.

Attacks from extreme leftist and anarchist groups in Greece are a great cause for concern as they appear to be symptomatic of the social and political problems that tend to distinguish Greece from the other European nations in the first place. Such problems include political scandals, governmental problems, issues surrounding the justice system, general corruption, an ineffective and anachronistic education system, problems regarding citizens’ rights, and the national quality of life.

The terrorist organizations that carry on the legacy of 17 November tend to justify their violent and criminal acts with reference to the same social and political problems that 17 November claimed as their alibi 35 years ago. The only difference to be found is in the rhetoric of the new terrorist groups. Their messages are conveyed much less eloquently and are lacking in serious ideological arguments. This could be the result of deliberate efforts to refrain from using complicated manifestos in order to gain audiences beyond their narrow ideological cores. However, this new rhetorical tactic could also be the result of a widespread disregard for the practice of gaining the public’s sympathy. This latter theory might explain the increasing use of car bombs, restaurant bombings, and other such attacks such as take place in Iraq and Afghanistan that tend to lead to indiscriminate killings and large numbers of casualties. It seems that the new terrorist organizations have no qualms about attacking everywhere and whenever without hesitation as to the number and identity of their victims.

While Greece has undertaken special police operations and begun to enforce new measures to face the present terrorist danger, its counterterrorism strategy should not be exclusively directed towards arresting members of terrorist organizations. Law enforcement and intelligence authorities ought also to adopt security measures that will prevent new attacks. Anti-terrorism policy should not, however, threaten basic rights and freedoms. The best counter-terrorism strategy a state can institute is one that respects its citizens.

Dr. Maria Alvanou is a Greek defense lawyer and Professor of Criminology at the Hellenic Police Officers Academy
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