BBC: Wearing white bulletproof vests, the two young bearded men manhandled into Athens' main court spat and snarled at reporters and photographers in a calculated pique of defiance.
When quizzed by prosecutors, they refused to give their names or answer questions, claiming they were political prisoners.
But as they emerged from the court in the grip of masked, muscular, machine gun-carrying anti-terrorist police, the two suspects, Gerasimos Tsakalos, 24, and Panagiotis Argyros, 22, looked small and not particularly terrifying.
Perhaps bravado was better than quivering at the prospect of 25 years in jail for their alleged part in sending booby-trapped parcel bombs to President Nicholas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy as well as assorted embassies and EU institutions.
Terrorism experts are convinced that the two belong to a left-wing organisation called the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.
The group has been active since the Greek riots of December 2008, ignited by the fatal shooting of schoolboy Alexis Grigoropoulos by a policeman.
So just how dangerous are they?
Brady Kiesling, a former US diplomat in Athens and author of a book about November 17, Greece's most deadly guerrillas, could not be more contemptuous.
"They are politically irrelevant," he said. "Their message is smash the system. Basically, they are soft-hearted suburban kids who aren't really going to hurt anyone in the process, if they can help it."
Mr Kiesling dismissed their cluster of booby traps as "firecrackers".
But while the group may have caused little more than inconvenience and raised blood pressure across Europe, they have highlighted serious flaws in the air freight system by demonstrating how easy it is to smuggle explosive materials into the cargo holds of aircraft. >>> Malcolm Brabant, BBC News, Athens | Wednesday, November 03, 2010
