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On September 13, 1951, an accident occurred in a Harvard training aircraft occurred at Ikarian School. A few days later, in a school hall, a slogan for the KKE was written on the wall. These incidents are related and on December 30, the Chief of Staff, Lt. Emmanuel Kelaidis, ordered the granting of a pardon for "sabotage clues on aircraft from the aircraft." aviation school ".
At that time, Greece was two years after the end of the civil war. The country was ruled by the weak and ephemeral governments of the Center, led alternately by Sophocles Venizelos and Nikolaos Plastiras, under the auspices of the American Mission. The army was powerful and it was a pole of power. The secret organization IDEA ("Sacred Association of Greek Officers"), which was years later the "leaven" of the coup d'etat of 21 April, acted within it. The first issue of the press was about the trial and death sentence of Nikos Beloyiannis and his fellow spies for the illegal KKE. The framework was appropriate for some extreme anticommunist circles to clarify their relationship with the liberal elements of aviation.
At the beginning of 1952, inquiries began and soon the first accused, eight officers (the Deputy Mayor Theofanis Metaxas, the fighters Elias Panagoulakis and Eleftherios Zafeiropoulos, the hypostasis Georgios Theodoridis and Georgios Mademalis, the deputy Nikolaos Donzoglou and the Deputy deputy were found in the palace dungeons, Panagiotis Lembessis), seven non-commissioned officers and five individuals. The defendants were subjected to appalling torture and confessed their guilt for sabotaging the plane. One of the defendants, Christos Dadalis, professor of mathematics, did not get up and died of torture.
The schism initiators had to prove the relationship between the accused and the KKE. They arrested Icaro Nico Akrigoyannis and sent him on April 7, 1952 to Albania for an allegedly national mission as a fugitive communist. They then handed it over to the Albanian authorities as a double agent. Akrigoyiannis was sentenced to death and executed on 15 April 1953.
On April 16, 1952, the case of the aviator, who was hitherto masked by a veil of silence, is revealed on the surface by the right wing, flooded with a multitude of publications. " on the discovery of communist action in the air force ". More imaginative spells also speak of plane shots by conspirators.
On July 10, 1952, an order for reference was made and 19 persons were sent to the Court's wharf. At the time of the hearing, the accusers had collapsed in an organization that had been operating since 1950 and who headed the KKE leadership. The Trial Aircraft Trial began on August 22, 1952 and was completed on September 17. In vain, the accused officers were neutralized to the air force with the medals and decorations they had received on the battlefield. The court was found guilty and imposed the death sentence on the fiancé Panagoulakis and the hypocrites Theodoridis. Four defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment for two years over two years, the others being found innocent.
In March 1953, the case was referred to the Supreme Court of Appeals, which, after some hearings, postponed the trial "for important reasons and evidence". The country was now ruled by the winner of the civil war, Alexandros Papagos, who had won the elections for the walk. On September 30, the trial was opened before the Revolutionary Tribunal and ended on November 28, 1953 with ten accused. The atmosphere at that time was clearly different. All the evidence convinces that it is a matter of shame. However, judges accept a conspiracy and impose lighter sentences on the accused. Two are sentenced to life imprisonment, six to temporary imprisonment and two to acquittal.
The file of the airmen was finally closed in November 1955, when the Karamanlis government pardoned the convicts, but also the conscripts, many of whom faithfully served the April Juniors. A few years later, Constantine Karamanlis met one of the amnestied officers. His fellow Serres, Georgios Mademlis, told him that he knew he was "innocent".
Source: sansimera.gr
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