COURT OF CESSATION
The May 1963 assassination of politician and peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis, at the hands of right-wing extremists, was a pivotal moment in modern Greek history. Outrage over the murder was swift and immense, exacerbated by the government of then-PM Konstantinos Karamanlis supporting a police report that indicated it was accidental. A particular point of contention was the apathy of the bystander police, who seemingly went out of their way to let Lambrakis die. It was the determination of one Christos Sartzetakis, the prosecuting jurist in the case, that unraveled the local police force’s association with the assassins. The revelation led to the conviction of the involved officers, and the collapse of the Karamanlis government.
Following Greece’s 1967 coup d’état, the new military dictatorship naturally was not keen on Sartzetakis. He was disbarred and imprisoned while the officers he helped convict were pardoned. DDP favourite Jean-Louis Trintignant portrayed a Sartzetakis-based character in the 1969 political thriller Z, which covered the events surrounding the Lambrakis assassination and concluded by highlighting the sobering reality of Greece’s junta rule.
Sartzetakis had a happier ending than the film, with the junta collapsing 5 years after Z’s release and Greece’s return to democracy seeing him rehabilitated and able to resume his legal career. He took place on preeminent Greek judicial bodies such as the Court of Cassation, and served as President of Greece (a largely ceremonial post) from 1985 to 1990. He was venerated for his sense of justice, and for an integrity that never wavered. His death at 92 comes after several months in the ICU and Greeces up five teams’ totals. Joker points bizarrely come to dictator theme team Complications from a fall, who presumably only saw he was an old Greek politician and assumed the worst!
Christos Sartzetakis
6 April 1929 – 3 February 2022, aged 92
5 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀 5 POINTS, 🃏 (x1) 10 POINTS)