The Greek junta trials (Greek: Οι Δίκες της Χούντας translated as: The Τrials of the Junta) were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the instigators of the coup as well as other junta members of various ranks who took part in the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising and in the torture of citizens.
The military coup leaders were formally arrested during the metapolitefsi period that followed the junta, and in early August 1975 the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis brought charges of high treason and insurrection against Georgios Papadopoulos and other co-conspirators.[1] The mass trial, described as "Greece's Nuremberg" and known as "The Trial of the Instigators", took place at the Korydallos Prison amidst heavy security.[1][2]
The principal leaders of the 1967 coup, Georgios Papadopoulos, Stylianos Pattakos and Nikolaos Makarezos, were sentenced to death for high treason, following the trial.[3] Shortly after the sentences were pronounced, they were commuted to life imprisonment by the Karamanlis government.
The trial of the instigators was followed by a second trial which investigated the events surrounding the Athens Polytechnic uprising known as "The Trial of the Polytechnic" and, finally, a series of trials involving incidents of torture known in Greece as "The Trials of the Torturers".[4]
Journalist and author Leslie Finer, who was expelled by the junta from Greece in 1968, reporting in 1975 on the trials for New Society wrote: "The trial of 20 ringleaders of the 1967 coup is a test of democratic justice. Among its other functions, this is a mode of exorcism and education."[5] The trials exposed the pettiness, conspiracies, corruption, and incompetence, within the regime, and served to demystify it, and with it, destroy the myth of the junta strongman. The corruption, which came to light during the trials, was so widespread that it surprised even the military. The details of torture of senior officers by their subordinates, revealed during the trials, offended the career officer class. The invasion of Cyprus was the final straw which led to the military withdrawing its support for the junta and abandoning any notion of supporting any military men acting as politicians.[6]
- ^ a b "The Colonels on Trial". Time. Retrieved 15 August 2008 Quote: "Last week Papadopoulos himself, after seven months in Korydallos, became the principal defendant in a mass trial at the prison. Along with 19 other former members of the ousted military junta, the ex-dictator was charged with acts of high treason and insurrection that had subjected Greece to 7½ years of dictatorship, from 1967 to 1974." and "Fearful of both right-wing plots to spring the defendants from prison and left-wing assassination attempts, the democratic government of Premier Constantine Caramanlis staged an impressive show of military strength at a trial that had been described as 'Greece's Nuremberg.'" and "Exasperated, the president of the court, Yiannis Deyannis, who was appointed a high court judge under the junta, yelled, 'Let all those who wish to leave—leave!'" also: "Loyal Officials. Kanellopoulos, a highly respected leader of the National Radical Union, told how he had been arrested at machine-gun point by junta soldiers and taken to the monarch in 1967. He urged the King, who was also commander in chief of the armed forces, to order loyal officers to crush the colonels' rebellion. The weak and inexperienced Constantine, then 27, refused, fearing bloodshed. Instead, he swore the colonels into office."
- ^ Taki Theodoracopulos (1978). The Greek Upheaval: Kings, Demagogues, and Bayonets. Caratzas Bros. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-89241-080-4. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
The Greek Nuremberg, as the trial of the twenty-eight principals in the 1967 coup was dubbed, was the first to begin. Deyannis, the presiding judge, got rave notices from the press when he treated the accused with scorn while conducting ...
- ^ "Answering to History". Time. Retrieved 18 August 2008. Quote: "Slavishly deferential, Papadopoulos' 19 co-defendants in the trial at Korydallos Prison on the outskirts of Athens referred to him as 'Mr. President.' When talking to reporters, the squat, jaunty Papadopoulos assured them that he would not be in jail for long. Disdainfully refusing to enter a plea in his defense, he crowed, 'I shall answer only to history and the Greek people.' To which Court President Ioannis Deyannis replied, his small sharp features pinched in anger, 'Do you think history is absent from this courtroom?'"
- ^ Book: The Trials of the Junta, 12 Volumes Pericles Rodakis (publisher), The Trials of the Junta: A: The Trial of the Instigators, B: The Trial of the Polytechnic, C: The Trials of the Torturers (Περικλής Ροδάκης (εκδ.), Οι Δίκες της Χούντας: Α: Η Δίκη των Πρωταιτίων, Β: Η Δίκη του Πολυτεχνείου, Γ: Οι Δίκες των Βασανιστών, 12 τόμοι, Αθήνα 1975-1976)
- ^ New Society. Vol. 33. New Society Limited. 1975. p. 415. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
The Greek colonels on trial Leslie Finer The trial of 20 ringleaders of the 1967 coup is a test of democratic justice. Among its other functions, this is a mode of exorcism and education. Leslie Finer, author of Passport to Greece, was Athens ... But there is this difference: instead of being dead in his bunker, the "arch villain" George Papadopoulos is alive and reasonably well; so are his chief fellow-conspirators, now arrayed under close public scrutiny in the bare courtroom arranged ... Leslie Finer, author of Passport to Greece, was Athens
- ^ Neil J. Kritz (1995). Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes. US Institute of Peace Press. pp. 266–. ISBN 978-1-878379-44-3.