Campaign for Greek prisoner

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32776, 29 November 1971, Page 16

Campaign for Greek prisoner

A Christchurch woman has started a campaign to have a seriously ill Greek political prisoner released from exile. Miss Hilda Anderson, of Papanui, has advertised in “The Press” inviting readers to help Mr Eleftherios Tzakos, aged 58, who has cancer and heart disease and was exiled without trial to the island of Samothrace. Miss Anderson has re ceived information about M Tzakos from Amnesty Inter national, an organisatioi which works for the release of political prisoners wh have not been involved u violence.

i Mr Tzakos was arrested by H > the military Junta which to t assumed power in Greece on re 1 the night of April 21, 1967. tii i He was sick in bed at the bi s time, and Amnesty Interna- ht ’ tional wrote that “although r possibly a Communist, he has th 1 no public political record and se 1 has never been prominent in ti s Left-wing activities. He has tii s never been sentenced or Pi tried.” H e . Mr Tzakos was sent to Par- th theni camp in Leros in n< Greece. He spent most of his r-1 time in Leros Hospital until T: in in 1969, in response to an p< se appeal from his wife to the to International Commission of hi in the Red Cross, he was trans- c< ferred to the General State hi

hospital in Athens. The docors at Partheni camp had ■ecommended that an operaion for cancer be performed, >ut this was not done and le was returned to the camp. Doctors on Leros insisted hat an operation was neces;ary and Mr Tzakos evenrally underwent an operaion, only to be returned to ’artheni camp 15 days later, le suffered greatly during he journey, Amnesty Interratiohal reported. Miss Anderson wrote to Mr fzakos, who replied with a postcard written in. French: “Your letter filled me with tope and joy. It is very en:ouraging that the flame of lumanism burns always.”

Mr Tzakos is being sponsored by a group of Amnesty International members in Surrey, England. Miss Anderson has learned that when the leader of this group, Mr W. Durkow, attempted to contact the First Secretary at the Greek Embassy his telephone line was twice disconnected. The Greek Ambassador replied to a letter, saying that he would contact the group when he heard any news of Mr Tzakos.

Mrs Tzakos is now living with her daughter in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and has written to Miss Anderson expressing her distress and concern for her husband.