[1] He was found guilty in 2003 of leading the Marxist-Leninist Greek urban guerrilla group Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N).
Several decades later, from inside the prison, he continued his studies with a Master in Theoretical Mathematics and later he earned a PhD degree from the University of Paris.
[4] 17N was responsible for a series of armed robberies, bombings, and assassinations of prominent Greek and foreign politicians, journalists, diplomats, and businessmen that left twenty-three people dead.
Giotopoulos was identified as its leader after the arrest and confession of Savvas Xiros, another member of 17N, following a failed bombing attempt on a hydrofoil shipping company in Piraeus.
At the start of his appeal, in 2005, he received support from left-wing organisations and personalities in France, where he was born,[5] including Alain Krivine and Pierre Vidal-Naquet.