Three Greek-Cypriot Youths Hanged As Terrorists

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28080, 22 September 1956, Page 11

Three Greek-Cypriot Youths Hanged As Terrorists

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) NICOSIA, September 21. Three Cypriot Greek terrorists were hanged at 1 a.m. (local time) today. The men were Stelios Mavromatis, 23, who shot at two British airmen last March, and Michael Koutsoftas and Andreas Panayides, both 22, who killed a Royal Air Force corporal in May. The three men were hanged in Nicosia central prison barely three hours after the Governor, Field-Marshal Sir John Harding, rejected an appeal by their lawyers. The prison was heavily guarded by British troops. A Greek Orthodox priest escorted to the death cells at midnight administered the Last Sacraments. The condemned men were led into the execution shed to the accompaniment of a frenzied uproar by other prisoners.

Police had been called out in Nicosia and Kyrenia the previous day to disperse demonstrators protesting against the scheduled executions. The demonstrators were mainly students. Two youths and two girls were arrested in Nicosia. Hundreds of prisoners in Nicosia’s central prison, where the terrorists were held, shouted anti-British slogans through their prison bars during the night. Many shops were closed in Nicosia and other centres as a sign of mourning for the condemned men. Bishop Yennadios of Salamis, Resident Bishop of the Archbishopric in Nicosia, cabled a last-minute appeal to world personalities asking for their intervention to secure the reprieve of the condemned men. The appeal read: “We appeal to you to use your high influence to secure the reprieve of three young Greek Cypriots who were sentenced to death for political offences under the Emergency Regulations. “Such a reprieve granted in a Christian spirit would contribute towards reducing tension and bitterness in Cyprus.”