Evagoras Pallikarides | |
|---|---|
| Ευαγόρας Παλληκαρίδης | |
 | |
| Born | 26 February 1938 |
| Died | 14 March 1957 (aged 19) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Occupation | Poet |
Evagoras Pallikarides (Greek: Ευαγόρας Παλληκαρίδης; 26 February 1938 – 14 March 1957) was a Greek-Cypriot poet and revolutionary who was a member of EOKA during the 1955–1959 campaign against British rule in Cyprus. He was arrested on 18 December 1956 when he was caught carrying weaponry (a Bren machine gun and crates of ammunition) on a donkey, to which he confessed in his trial. He was sentenced to death by hanging for firearms possession on 27 February 1957 and was the youngest insurgent to be executed in Cyprus. His death generated widespread controversy due to his young age and the circumstances of his arrest.
Propaganda leaflets published and distributed after the hanging included a fabricated description of how he had murdered a traitor.[1] The lawfulness of his execution has been subsequently questioned because the weapon he held at the time was not functional. In the A. W. B. Simpson book Human Rights and the End of Empire, Simpson claims that the real reason for Pallikarides' execution was that the authorities believed (but were unable to prove)[1] that he had earlier murdered an elderly individual who was a suspected collaborator with the British authorities.[2]
- ^ a b George Grivas. The Memoirs of General Grivas, edited by Charles Foley, p. 121. Longmans, London, 1964.
- ^ Simpson, Alfred William Brian (2001). Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention. Oxford University Press. pp. 876–877. ISBN 978-0-19-926789-7.