ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The Greek Orthodox priest whose three sons were alleged executioners for the feared November 17 terrorist group said Saturday his children had turned away from God and must pay for their crimes.
Police, meanwhile, seized two more suspects Saturday as they continued their sweep against the ultra-leftist terror group that operated with impunity in Greece for 27 years.
After raiding their homes in Athens, police snatched the two men from northern Greece, where they were vacationing separately, police sources said. Their names were not released.
Also, an alleged founder of the organization, charged with 13 murders, denied the crimes Saturday, police and court officials said.
For three weeks, the Rev. Triandafyllos Xiros had insisted there was no connection between his family and November 17. But after police announced earlier this week that two sons had confessed to a string of murders, bombings and bank robberies, the priest — who has 11 children — appeared a broken man.
"They will go to jail, and they must repent," he said.
"All these days I have been praying ... for God to reveal the truth, for the guilty ones to be revealed. God has done his miracle. The police did their job well. The truth was revealed and the guilty ones were revealed. And I am happy for this, even if my own children were involved. Whoever did something must pay. Everyone must pay, either here or in the next life."
November 17 terrorized Greece, killing American, Turkish and British officials as well as prominent Greeks beginning with the 1975 assassination of the CIA station chief in Athens, Richard Welch. Between then and their last known murder, that of British defense attache Brig. Stephen Saunders in June 2000, November 17 killed 21 other people, financing their operations with some of Greece's biggest bank robberies.
Police first penetrated the deadly group by accident when Xiros' 40-year-old son, Savas, was severely injured when the bomb he was allegedly carrying exploded June 29. That led police to Alexandros Giotopoulos, 58, described as a founder of the group and its ideologist, and to two other sons of Xiros.
Court officials and police said Giotopoulos, a Paris-born academician, insisted Saturday that he had no connection to the group, although authorities say they found his fingerprints in one of two apartments November 17 used to store weapons. Police also said his handwriting matched that of a manifesto written in connection with one of the group's assassinations.
Giotopoulos was captured Wednesday on the eastern Aegean island of Lispsi, where he had a vacation home. Giotopoulos had lived under an assumed name for years and was married to a French woman — a retired schoolteacher who visited him in jail twice in the last two days.
Authorities now have nine suspects in custody, including the three Xiros brothers, one of their high-school friends, an electrician, a retired printer and the academic.
Xiros' eldest son Christodoulos, 44, confessed to participating in nine killings, including those of U.S. defense attache Capt. William Nordeen and U.S. Air Force Sgt. Ronald O. Stewart, as well as a long list of bombings and robberies between 1984 and 1997.
Another son, 30-year-old Vassilis, confessed to participating in two killings, including that of Saunders, and to numerous bomb attacks and robberies between 1996 and 2002.
Speaking haltingly, the father of the alleged terrorists said:
"Savas and the other children left the path of God. They strayed from the church, they became distant from God."
The priest said Savas repented after being injured in the botched bombing.
"With this shock, when he saw death with his own eyes, he turned toward God," Xiros said.
Authorities have not yet arrested or charged Savas Xiros but said one of his fingerprints was found on a vehicle used in the 1997 assassination of businessman Constantinos Peratikos.
Blending extreme left-wing politics with nationalism, November 17 was named for the date in 1973 when the military dictatorship then ruling Greece crushed a student uprising.
Initially, its anti-American rhetoric struck a chord with many in Greece who blamed the United States for propping up the 1967-74 junta.
"This group of friends wanted, with bombs, to improve society. But society can't be improved with bombs, it can't be improved with wars," the priest said. "This way, society is made worst. Society is improved only with Christ."
It still is a mystery how the Xiros brothers allegedly became involved in terrorism or who might have recruited them.
"All these years I hadn't realized anything," their father said.
While November 17 reportedly netted nearly $6 million in bank robberies, Xiros said his sons were always short of money and turned to their father to pay their bills.
"I saw my children penniless all these years," he said. "And I wonder ... where did all these millions go?"
Authorities had long suspected the group robbed to finance their activities. But the vast majority of their weapons came from raids in the late 1980's — automatic weapons from a police station and dozens of anti-tank rockets from an army base.
Police are still hunting for other suspected November 17 members, including 44-year-old beekeeper Dimitris Koufodinas, who had been living with Savas Xiros' former wife, Angeliki Sotiropoulou.
Both Sotiropoulou and Savas Xiros' current companion, a Spanish makeup artist, have been questioned and released by police.