May 7, 1955
CONVICTION OF CYPRIOT MILITANTS: Ktima (Paphos), 6 – The postscript to the trial of 13 Greek patriots was written today not only with their conviction but with the presentation of their ideas, which were the reason for the charges being pressed against them and which the judges distorted in the worst possible manner. The accused spoke of the principles of freedom, justice, self-determination and national and human solidarity which led them, according to the Greek captain of the Aghios Georgios, Evangelos Koutalianos, to do «their duty – that is, their sacred obligation to help their Cypriot brothers.» From the bench, however, were heard diatribes to the effect that the accused had lost touch with reality, that they were unaware that peace, prosperity and justice prevailed in the subjugated land of Cyprus, and that in acting as they had done, the accused acted contrary to moral law. (…) Socrates Loizidis, who received the longest sentence (12 years’ imprisonment), made the following statement: «I am a Greek Cypriot, a Greek citizen. I believe in the principles of freedom, democracy, justice and self-determination. My actions have been in accordance with these principles.»
