OPINION

August 14, 1954

PLOUMBIDIS EXECUTED: Nikolaos Ploumbidis, a senior official of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and leader of its cell in Greece, was executed this morning in Dafni. Ploumbidis had been sentenced to death by an Athens military court. During the somber drive from Sotiria prison to Dafni, the prison chaplain, Father Ierotheos, sat beside the condemned Ploumbidis, reading him the prayers for the dying. Previously, Ploumbidis had refused to confess or to receive communion. He had asked for a pencil and paper to write a farewell letter to his father, his wife, son and sister. He got out of the car with difficulty and allowed himself to be led before the firing squad. (…) He then turned to the royal commissioner, Lt Colonel N. Polychronopoulos and said: «I think I have left my child with a good name.» (…) Ploumbidis then said to the members of the firing squad: «Boys, aim well. I am dying for my people and my country.» (…) It was 5.26 a.m. as 12 bullets felled Ploumbidis, who in his last minutes cheered for the KKE, the party which he had rejected during his trial and called an agency of the police.

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