from AFP: July 17 2007 at 03:07PM

Athens - A self-proclaimed anarchist bank robber arrested after a shoot-out in Athens city centre in 2006 was jailed for 25 years on Tuesday.

To jeers from dozens of young anarchists and amid a heavy police presence, an Athens criminal court found 28-year-old Iannis Dimitrakis guilty of armed robbery, attempted homicide and membership of a criminal organisation.

But he was cleared of six bank robberies carried out by a gang known as the "robbers in black", which police suspected he had taken part in.

Dimitrakis was part of a gang of four who had just robbed a shopping centre in central Athens when police intervened.

He was wounded in a shoot-out with police and captured, while his accomplices got away.

During the trial, he admitted his involvement in the robbery but cited his anarchist convictions by way of justification.

In recent months, groups of young people have staged a series of demonstrations in solidarity with Dimitrakis in both Athens and Salonica. There have also been molotov cocktail attacks on public buildings.

Inmates at the top security Malandrino prison also mutinied last April in protest at what they said was a beating handed out to Dimitrakis by prison guards. - AFP