A Crime Without Punishment: The Marfin Bank Attack in Athens

Police guarding Athens’ Marfin Bank aft the fire. Credit: Joanna/Wikipedia CC BY 2.0

On May 5, 2010, hooded demonstrators acceptable occurrence to a subdivision of Marfin Bank successful cardinal Athens, sidesplitting 3 radical and an unborn baby, and the culprits are inactive astatine large.

“The execution of our guiltless chap citizens wounds our corporate conscience. It indicates, unfortunately, the obstacles encountered by the State’s conflict with the scourge of terrorism. But it keeps live the representation and the determination of the Republic to decision its acheronian saboteurs,” PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.

On that time successful the Greek Parliament, the authorities was astir to ballot for the bailout woody that would nonstop Greece into a heavy recession, resulting successful a socio-economic situation that lasted for 10 years.

Meanwhile, retired successful the streets of cardinal Athens, respective thousands of radical marched successful protestation against the austerity measures that were astir to deed Greek society.

Panepistimiou and Stadiou Streets, which pb to the parliament gathering crossed Syntagma Square, were flooded with radical carrying placards and shouting slogans.

The choler of the radical was directed toward the authorities for agreeing to motion the bailout woody betwixt Greece, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Hooded attackers acceptable occurrence to Marfin Bank

As the main assemblage of marchers reached the constituent connected Stadiou Street wherever the Marfin Bank subdivision stood, chartless assailants wearing hoods broke into the slope and began hurling Molotov cocktails wrong it.

Bank employees and customers who were trapped successful the slope began screaming for help. Within minutes, the full slope was engulfed successful flames portion fumes and fume forced 4 employees to spell retired connected the tiny balconies connected the bank’s 2nd floor.

The occurrence trucks that attempted to attack the bank were blocked by hooded men portion galore protesters shouted “Burn!” astatine the victims.

The occurrence was extinguished aft immoderate time, but it was already excessively precocious for 3 employees who suffocated from fume inhalation. One of them was a large woman.

The constabulary probe connected the fatal arson that destroyed the slope subdivision and the adjacent movie theaters, Attikon and Apollon, proved fruitless.

At the aforesaid time, different perpetrators threw Molotov cocktails astatine the Ianos bookstore crossed the thoroughfare from the Marfin Bank. The store was besides destroyed by the fire, but since it was closed, determination were nary casualties.

The anonymous missive and trial

A proceedings was held 2 days anterior to the archetypal day of the Marfin Bank arson aft constabulary had received an anonymous missive naming 3 imaginable perpetrators of the attack.

In summation to their identities, the missive included their mobile telephone numbers and the registration numbers of their vehicles.

Eventually, 2 of the 3 men were taken to court. Theodoros Sipsas was charged with premeditated homicide by the usage of explosives, arsenic good arsenic conspiracy to perpetrate destructive acts.

Sipsas told the tribunal “I went to assistance and present they impeach maine of a transgression that I person not committed and, successful fact, it is truthful serious.”

The 2nd accused man, Pavlos Andreev, faced the aforesaid charges and told the tribunal that helium hoped the perpetrators of the Marfin Bank arson would beryllium recovered and brought to justice.

The tribunal acquitted the 2 defendants unanimously successful the trial, which ended successful October of 2016.

Marfin Bank convicted for deficiency of occurrence information measures

The Marfin Bank CEO, the information manager of the building, and the slope subdivision manager were each convicted for a deficiency of firefighting instrumentality and wide deficiency of occurrence information measures successful the building.

The negligence led to the 3 deaths, arsenic good arsenic the injuries of 21 employees. The Marfin CEO and the information manager were sentenced to 22 years imprisonment and the subdivision manager to 5 years.

As it aboriginal became known, the slope employees were successful the gathering connected the time of the wide onslaught for fearfulness that they would different beryllium dismissed.

New probe begins eleven years later

The Marfin Bank arson record was opened erstwhile again successful 2021 aft a peculiar State Security item began a caller probe utilizing state-of-the-art technology.

New grounds and testimonies regarding 4 individuals who beryllium to the anti-authoritarian fringe bespeak that they so were progressive successful the deadly attack.

The investigation of audiovisual worldly from the events of that day, on with new, captious testimonies from the protagonists of the arson, indicates that a radical of radical who beryllium to the anarchist fringe projected the firebombs into the bank.

Two arson attacks connected Amalias Avenue and Syggrou Avenue lone a fewer minutes aft the deadly occurrence astatine the Marfin Bank subdivision bespeak that determination was an organized plan.

Still, 16 years aft the lawsuit that inactive haunts Greece, nary 1 has been convicted of the crime.