August 28, 2018•Update: August 28, 2018
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
The U.S. on Tuesday "strongly" condemned the furlough of convicted far-left Greek terrorist Dimitris Koufodinas.
"These furloughs are a shameful injustice to his many victims' families and serve as further incentive for his anarchist followers to commit further violence and destructive acts in his name," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.
The U.S. embassy in Athens has relayed its concerns to Greek officials, Nauert said.
Koufodinas was active with the Revolutionary Organization 17 November, a designated terrorist group in the U.S.
The now-disbanded organization was responsible for the assassination of a long string of officials, including U.S. Defense Attache William Nordeen.
Koufodinas was recently transferred to a minimum-security open agricultural prison near the Greek city of Volos.
The transfer was slammed by Turkey and the U.S. since he was involved in the murder of Turkish and American diplomats.
Koufodinas was convicted in 2003 of belonging to November 17. He is serving 11 life terms.
The group was active in Greece between 1975 and 2002. It is considered responsible for the assassination of 23 people in a total of 103 attacks, which particularly targeted U.S., British, Turkish, and Greek nationals.
Turkish press attache Cetin was killed in 1991 while Omer Haluk Sipahioglu, a at the Turkish Embassy in Athens, was gunned down in front of his home in 1994.
Former Ambassador Deniz Bolukbasi, Nilgun Kececi, the wife of a Turkish vice-consul, and driver Adil Yildirim were also wounded in separate attacks reportedly carried out by the same group.
