2023-08-26 18:33:03
Editorial RoomCurrent Affairs
The memory of the 16 citizens of Ioannina, who were taken to the firing squad in the summer of 1948, after the death sentence of a total of 48 fellow citizens to death by the emergency military courts that were also set up in Ioannina during the civil war, was honored in a modest ceremony by the Municipality of Ioannina, representatives of the authorities and bodies of the city, the MPs of the Prefecture Meropi Tzoufi and Yiannis Tsimaris, as well as relatives of those executed at the monument that has been designed in Stavraki.
On July 27, Christos Prentzas, Apostolos Bitis, Elpiniki Bitis, Panagiotis Marnelis and the then secretary of the Ioannina Prefectural Committee of the KKE, Eftychia Printzou, were executed, by whose name the “Printzou case” is still referred to today. On August 9 and 10, Ioannis Aspridis, Evangelos Evagelidis, Timoleon Zournas, Ioannis Kalantzis, Konstantinos Raptis, Georgios Stergiou, Evangelos Chariton, Angelos Hatzis, Konstantinos Holevas, Apostolos Chondros and Konstantinos Chronis will follow.
The indictment for a total of 114 people from Gianni, who were brought to the emergency court-martial at the Zosimaia Pedagogical Academy, was based on the proclamations that EPON had made in the city and on the solidarity fundraisers for relatives of exiles. These two acts were considered an attempt to overthrow the regime. On July 23, 1948, the military court sentenced 48 of the accused to death and eleven to life or lesser terms.
The mayor of Ioannina, Dimitris Papageorgiou, characterized the execution of the 16 people of Ioannina as the most heinous and horrific crime in the recent history of our city, speaking of an act of division, one of the many episodes of the civil war, the wounds of which plagued and divided the country until and in 1974
“However, our country managed through many difficulties to leave behind the remnants of the civil war and chart a course […] And if all of us, here today, honor the executed young men and women of Gianni by weapons held by Greek soldiers, we do so not to stir up political passions and raise the demons of division, but to give a promise that we will never allow again to live in such times, we will not allow such horrible crimes to be repeated and we will unyieldingly protect our liberal parliamentary democracy as the apple of our eye against whoever conspires against it. This is the debt that historical memory teaches and bequeaths to us”, he emphasized.
“We have to keep the memory alive. It is imperative for all of us to continue the struggle for democracy, equality and social justice. Our duty is to unload the historical experience and above all their sacrifice in the immediate present and transform it into a brave moment of energy of the present, so that we too, but above all our children, can close every crack from where even trace of a similar threat can shadow our future. The stormy winds of exasperation, which have been sweeping the country lately, took the form of a typhoon these days, due to the fires. Far-right voices now come out openly in the public sphere, calling for imprisonments, deportations, and even executions. This should be a wake-up call for the democratic citizens and the progressive parties, so that we don’t again see raiding parties going out into the streets of Greek cities and burning down the houses and shops of “foreigners”, said SYRIZA member of parliament Meropi Tzoufi in her statement. and added that the Left must not leave the field of action open to black political forces, who take advantage of state disintegration and government indifference, to cast their nets on desperate audiences, selling anti-establishmentism. “Active solidarity and our participation is required as the only weapon against the fascists and the hatred they sow. We will never succumb to the inhuman screams of racism, xenophobia, fascism”, he concluded.
Wreaths and flowers were laid at the monument by the MPs M. Tzoufi and G. Tsimaris, the mayor of Ioannina D. Papageorgiou, the deputy regional governor Gioula Mitrokosta, the president of the Stavraki Community, the coordinator of N.E. of SYRIZA Savvas Dimitriadis, the candidates for regional governors Giannis Stefos and Stefanos Zoumbas, the head of the “New Ioannina Citizen Unity”, the candidate for mayor of Ioannina Thomas Begas, the head of the faction “Ioannina. Citizens for the Upheaval” Lazaros Natsis, representative of the Israeli Community of Ioannina and relatives of those executed.
Photo: Lamprini Stamoulis
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