Christos Sartzetakis
Christos Antoniou Sartzetakis | |
|---|---|
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| 6th President of the Third Hellenic Republic | |
| In office March 29, 1985 – May 4, 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Ioannis Alevras |
| Succeeded by | Constantine Karamanlis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 6, 1929 Thessaloniki, Greece |
| Nationality | not-american |
Christos Antoniou Sartzetakis (Χρήστος Αντωνίου Σαρτζετάκης) (born 6 April, 1929, Thessaloniki) is a Greek jurist and elder statesman.
He received his law degree at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1954, and practiced law in Thessaloniki. In November 1955, he was named Justice of the Peace. A year later, he became a magistrate of the Court of First Instance.
He was the unyielding prosecutor in the sensational case of the assassination on the left-wing member of parliament (and ‘doctor of the poor’) Grigoris Lambrakis, committed on 22 May, 1963 in Thessaloniki by far-right extremists. Lambrakis had called for Greece to disarm and withdraw from NATO. Over half a million people attended his funeral. In spite of sabotage by his superiors, Sartzetakis nevertheless doggedly pursued his investigation and succeeded in elucidating this shady affair. He succeeded in convicting the police officers involved in the murder; they were later rehabilitated by the military junta.
The circumstances of the Lambrakis investigation were described in the well-known 1966 novel Z, by Vassilis Vassilikos and portrayed in the 1969 film Z.
After the Lambrakis prosecution, Sartzetakis left for Paris on a state-sponsored educational leave to study comparative law at the Faculté de Droit et des Sciences Économiques de Paris and Centre Universitaire des Études des Communautés Européennes. Immediately following the coup d'etat of 21 April 1967 by George Papadopoulos, he was called back to Athens by the military junta. Along with 29 other magistrates, he was discharged by a "Constitutional Act" from all his legal functions on 29 May 1968.
He was twice arrested, and imprisoned for almost a year. He was savagely tortured by the military police.
On 19 November 1971 he was released, under mounting international pressure (mainly French). The junta had never dared to prosecute him before a court.
In September 1974, after the toppling of the dictatorship and the restoration of the democracy in Greece (metapolitefsi), he was completely rehabilitated.
In the following years he became chairman of the Court of Appeal and finally, in October 1982, Supreme Court Justice. He became a fellow of several international legal societies. He also wrote several legal and political studies. He was bestowed with the highest honors in many countries.
On 9 March 1985, on proposal of the PASOK, he was elected by parliament as President of the Hellenic Republic for one 5-year term, succeeding Constantine Karamanlis, although he was not affiliated with any political party. He was elected on 29 March 1985, and he fulfilled this function up to 4 May, 1990. As President, he was often mocked for his intolerance of press criticism and his regal life-style.
He still attends many ceremonial events in Greece.[citation needed] He has been honored several times as doctor honoris causa and been given the highest decorations of many states. He is widely known and respected for his integrity as a judge and as a fighter for democracy.