Greek police this week said months of digital forensic analysis comparing photographs from the deadly May 2010 Marfin firebombing with previously unexamined images seized years later formed the foundation of the investigation that led to the arrests of three suspects, while newly released video footage has provided one of the clearest visual records of the arson attack.
According to a detailed police forensic report, two 42-year-old men now in pretrial detention were “inextricably linked” to individuals captured in photographs taken outside the Marfin bank branch on May 5, 2010. Investigators reached the conclusion after digital forensic specialists compared dozens of photographs from the attack with images confiscated during a 2020 search of the residence of a self-styled anarchist linked to a fugitive bank robber. The material, reportedly depicting the suspects during a seaside holiday in 2009, was not analyzed until 2024.
Rather than relying solely on facial identification, investigators said they matched distinctive personal items — including worn backpacks, shoes, sunglasses and caps — visible both in the pre-attack photographs and during the fatal assault.
Police also compared images from a subsequent arson attack on the former Athens prefecture headquarters on Syngrou Avenue, which authorities believe was carried out by the same group.
According to the forensic report, the combination of compatible physical characteristics and “unique acquired features” on the backpacks and other equipment established an “inextricable” association between the suspects and the individuals recorded outside the Marfin branch.
Conversely, defense lawyers representing the defendants have rejected that conclusion, arguing the case file contains no definitive identification of their clients.
The investigation was further strengthened by photographs taken by photo-journalist Ilias Provopoulos, who said he instinctively began photographing a group of about 11 masked individuals shortly before the attack because they appeared unlike other demonstrators participating in that day’s protest.
Provopoulos said the group, dressed in coordinated black and khaki clothing with baseball caps, sunglasses and face coverings, split into smaller teams before three individuals headed toward the bank. According to his account, one suspect smashed the bank’s front window with a sledgehammer, another threw a flammable liquid inside and a third hurled a lit firebomb, engulfing the building in flames within seconds. He also recalled seeing one of the suspects at an earlier attack on the former Athens prefecture building.
Separately, newly released surveillance video shows the final moments before the firebombing. The footage captures a bank employee moving hurriedly behind a counter seconds before the front window is shattered and a “Molotov cocktail” is thrown into the building. Dense smoke rapidly fills the interior as the blaze spreads.
The attack claimed the lives of three employees, including a pregnant woman, and remains one of the most traumatic episodes of Greece’s financial crisis-era unrest.
The case has seen major developments over the past month after authorities arrested two men in Greece and a 46-year-old woman in the United Kingdom, who is expected to be extradited to face charges.
The arrests have revived public interest in a case that had remained unsolved for more than 16 years and renewed debate over one of the darkest chapters of political violence in modern Greek history.
