A 46-year-old woman wanted in connection with the May 2010 Marfin bank firebombing in central Athens has contacted Greek authorities from the United Kingdom, declaring her innocence and saying she intends to return to Greece immediately to testify in the case.
According to her lawyer, who also represents the two 42-year-old men arrested this week, the woman contacted authorities after learning of the latest developments and expressed her willingness to cooperate fully with the judicial investigation.
She is expected to return from the United Kingdom as soon as possible and could appear before the investigating magistrate alongside the two men as early as next week, although no official timetable has been announced.
The woman is the subject of an arrest warrant issued as part of the first major breakthrough in the investigation into the fatal May 5, 2010 attack, in which three Marfin Bank employees died after assailants hurled firebombs and flammable liquid into the bank’s branch on Stadiou Street during mass anti-austerity demonstrations in central Athens.
According to recent reports, the investigation was revived after an anonymous email sent to Greece’s directorate for combating organized crime identified three alleged participants in the attack and named additional individuals linked to the same anti-authoritarian milieu. The information prompted authorities to reopen the dormant case, launch a fresh criminal investigation and seek judicial authorization for a new review of the evidence.
Over roughly the past year, investigators reportedly re-examined archived evidence, compared material from other criminal case files and analyzed video and photographic footage from Greek and foreign journalists who covered the 2010 demonstrations. Authorities concluded that clothing, physical characteristics and other identifying features were consistent with individuals believed to have carried out the attack, leading to the arrest warrants issued this week.
Survivor Maria Karagianni, who escaped the blaze and was photographed appealing for help from a balcony as smoke engulfed the building, said she hoped the suspects were the actual perpetrators but stressed that justice must ultimately be based on evidence presented in court.
Maria Karagianni, seen in the foreground.
Speaking to local media, Karagianni said survivors and victims’ families had endured 16 years without answers and wanted those responsible, if convicted, to face the full consequences of the law.
The Marfin attack remains one of the darkest episodes of Greece’s financial crisis.
Three employees — Paraskevi Zoulia, 35, Epaminondas Tsakalis, 36, and Angeliki Papathanasopoulou, 32, who was pregnant with her first child — died from smoke inhalation after becoming trapped inside the burning building while thousands marched through central Athens to protest Greece’s first international bailout program.
The identities of those responsible had remained unresolved for more than 16 years before this week’s arrests.
