1. Early Life and Education
Christos Sartzetakis was born in Neapoli, Thessaloniki, on April 6, 1929. His father, a Gendarmerie officer in Thessaloniki, hailed from Kandanos, Chania, on the island of Crete. His mother was a Greek Macedonian born in Sklithro, Florina. Sartzetakis pursued his higher education in law, obtaining his degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
2. Legal Career
Christos Sartzetakis's legal career began in the mid-1950s and was significantly defined by his pursuit of justice in politically charged cases, which led to his persecution under the military dictatorship, followed by his rehabilitation and rise to the highest judicial ranks after the restoration of democracy.
2.1. Entry into the judiciary and early career
Sartzetakis embarked on his judicial career in 1955. His initial posting was as a Justice of the Peace in Kleisoura, Kastoria. By 1963, he was serving as a judge of the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki.
2.2. Investigation of Grigoris Lambrakis assassination and imprisonment by junta
On May 27, 1963, Grigoris Lambrakis, a left-wing Member of Parliament, died four days after a severe beating. Sartzetakis was appointed by Constantine Kollias, the attorney of the Greek Supreme Court, to investigate the case, which had been transferred to the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki. In March 1964, Sartzetakis sent a letter to the Minister of Justice, Polychronis Polychronidis, in which he boldly implicated the police and the Greek State as responsible for the murder. Alongside prosecutor Stylianos Boutis, he ordered the preventive detention of four police officers.
The trial commenced on October 3, 1966, and spanned 67 days at the Criminal Court of Thessaloniki. Both Sartzetakis and prosecutor Pavlos Dellaportas endured intense pressure to swiftly conclude the case without further investigation. Two months later, the verdict was announced, acquitting 21 defendants and all state agents, rejecting the prosecutor's recommendations. Only two individuals were convicted as direct perpetrators, and both were subsequently pardoned by the Greek Junta shortly after. Kollias, who later became Prime Minister under the military junta, famously declared that "Sartzetakis will answer to me." In his memoirs, published after his presidency, Sartzetakis vehemently stressed that Lambrakis's death was a clear political assassination with direct state involvement.
The Lambrakis investigation gained international recognition and was the subject of the 1966 novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos. Sartzetakis was famously portrayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant in the novel's 1969 film adaptation directed by Costa Gavras.
Following the Lambrakis prosecution, Sartzetakis moved to Paris with permission to study commercial law and European Community law. He was arrested twice by the military junta. The first arrest occurred on Christmas Eve of 1970, during which he was subjected to torture by the Greek Military Police. an international outcry ensued, leading to his release from the junta's prison in 1971.
2.3. Restoration of democracy and judicial career
In September 1974, with the collapse of the dictatorship and the onset of the restoration of democracy in Greece, Sartzetakis was fully rehabilitated. As a member of the Court of Appeals, he demonstrated his principled stance again in 1976 when he rejected Germany's request to extradite the terrorist Rolf Pohle, arguing that Pohle's crimes were political and thus prevented extradition under the Greek constitution. This decision led to disciplinary proceedings initiated by the prosecutor of the Supreme Court against Sartzetakis and the two other judges involved in the decision. His career continued to advance, and he was appointed president of the Court of Appeals in 1981, followed by his elevation to a member of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece in 1982.
3. Presidency of Greece (1985-1990)
Christos Sartzetakis's presidency was marked by a surprising election, significant domestic policy debates, and a distinct public image that shaped his relations with political figures and the broader Greek public.
3.1. Election and constitutional crisis
The political climate leading up to the 1985 presidential elections was notably unstable, and the media and political parties widely anticipated the re-election of Konstantinos Karamanlis as President of the Republic. However, the then-Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou unexpectedly nominated Sartzetakis, a judge with no prior political involvement, as a candidate to succeed Karamanlis. This surprising announcement and Papandreou's subsequent tactics for securing Sartzetakis's election precipitated a constitutional crisis. On March 10, 1985, immediately after Papandreou's public announcement of this decision, Karamanlis resigned. His resignation was in response to PASOK's unexpected rejection of his re-election bid and his opposition to Papandreou's recently declared plans to reform the 1975 Constitution, which aimed to transfer the remaining executive powers from the President of the Republic to the Prime Minister. Following Karamanlis's resignation, Ioannis Alevras, the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, assumed the role of acting President of Greece.
The first vote in the Greek parliament for the presidency took place on March 17, with Sartzetakis as the sole candidate, receiving 178 votes. The second vote, held on March 23, saw him garner 181 votes. This vote was controversial due to the use of different colored ballot papers-Sartzetakis's ballots were blue, while others were white-which was seen as a violation of the secrecy of the vote. It was not until the third and turbulent vote, held on March 29, that Sartzetakis was finally elected as the new president for a five-year term, securing 180 votes from deputies of PASOK and the Communist Party. Shortly after his election, he issued a televised message appealing for national unity, affirming that "our country is too small to support the luxury of national divisions." He was sworn in on March 30 in a ceremony that was boycotted by the 112 deputies of the conservative opposition, New Democracy (ND). Their refusal to attend was based on the allegation that the election had been unconstitutional because the acting Greek president, Ioannis Alevras, then president of the Parliament, had been allowed to cast a vote.
3.2. Key policies and domestic issues
During his presidency, Sartzetakis took clear stances on several significant domestic issues, reflecting his personal moral and legal convictions.
3.2.1. Stance on abortion
In 1986, Sartzetakis expressed strong opposition to the bill that legalized abortion in Greece. This stance reflected his personal moral convictions regarding the issue.
3.2.2. The Rousos case and minority rights
In 1987, the case of Christos Roussos, a young homosexual man who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1976 for murder, garnered national attention when Roussos went on a hunger strike. Facing this situation and heeding Roussos's appeal for a mistrial-arguing he had murdered the man who intended to prostitute him-the Papandreou government granted him a pardon. However, this was met with Sartzetakis's refusal to approve it. This decision provoked a wave of indignation, leading to accusations of homophobia against Sartzetakis and significantly souring his relationship with Prime Minister Papandreou. The pardon was ultimately granted in 1990 by President Karamanlis. This case highlighted broader issues of social justice and minority rights in Greece during Sartzetakis's term.
3.3. Political and public reception
Sartzetakis's public image and interactions with political figures were frequently the subject of criticism and satire during his presidency.
3.3.1. Personality and public image
His personality as president was often criticized and satirized. He notably insisted that newspapers refer to him as "Sir" with a capital "K" (ΚύριοςKyriosGreek, Modern). He also favored the conservative form of modern Greek known as Katharevousa, which led to perceptions of him as a strict formalist with rigid thinking, somewhat removed from the common people. However, it is worth noting that Sartzetakis extended the same honorific "Sir" to other prominent political personalities of the time, including Prime Ministers Andreas Papandreou, Costas Simitis, and Konstantinos Mitsotakis, as well as later President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos.
Sartzetakis faced criticism regarding personal expenses, specifically for allegedly purchasing expensive air conditioners during a return from China and not passing them through customs. However, it was later claimed that the reported shopping during official visits should not be solely attributed to him, as purchases were also made by his entourage and accompanying journalists. He also engaged in legal disputes with comedians who satirized him. In 1986, Sartzetakis was photographed holding a large iron cross and the staff of Athanasius the Athonite at the Great Lavra. The comedian Harry Klynn satirized this on the cover of his album "Τίποτα" (Nothing). Sartzetakis then sued Klynn, alleging insults to religious symbols, though Klynn was ultimately acquitted. The following year, comedian Lakis Lazopoulos was arrested after publishing criticisms of the political situation; he too was acquitted.
On a more positive note, Sartzetakis was the first president to welcome resistance fighters to the Presidential Palace for the July 24th celebration, honoring their contributions.
3.3.2. Relations with political figures
Sartzetakis's relationship with Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who had nominated him, became strained, particularly after the controversial Rousos case. His presidency also overlapped with the Koskotas scandal, which implicated Papandreou and contributed to significant political turmoil. He also had interactions with Konstantinos Mitsotakis, another prominent political leader of the time.
3.4. End of term and transition
Sartzetakis's five-year term concluded on May 5, 1990. The period between 1989 and 1990 was marked by an unprecedented triple electoral repetition due to the inability of political parties to form a stable government, largely influenced by the Koskotas scandal and Papandreou's changes to electoral law designed to prevent the opposition party from gaining a absolute majority. Sartzetakis failed to secure enough parliamentary support for a second term in the 1990 Greek presidential election. The day before his term ended, Konstantinos Karamanlis was elected by an absolute majority in Parliament and subsequently took office for his second term as president. After leaving office, Sartzetakis retired from public life, though he continued to publish his opinions in newspapers and articles on his [https://www.sartzetakis.gr personal website].
4. Ideological Stances and Social Views
Christos Sartzetakis held complex and evolving ideological stances, particularly concerning national reconciliation and the interpretation of Greek history, demonstrating a pragmatic approach towards national unity.
4.1. Views on national reconciliation and political ideologies
Despite holding anticommunist views and considering the defeat of the DSE in 1949 (the end of the Greek Civil War) a "national victory," Sartzetakis consistently stressed the need for genuine national reconciliation based on remembrance. He disagreed with the discontinuation of memorial services for the fallen of the Armed Forces and the taboo treatment of the Greek Civil War in educational contexts. Notably, he cooperated with Charilaos Florakis, the late leader of the Communist Party of Greece, during the 1989 political crisis. After Florakis's passing in 2005, Sartzetakis delivered a eulogy, praising the communist leader for his "straightness, honesty and political rectitude," demonstrating a pragmatic approach towards bridging ideological divides for national unity.
5. Personal Life and Death
5.1. Personal life
Christos Sartzetakis was married to Efi Argyriou, and together they had one daughter.
5.2. Death and national mourning
On December 3, 2021, Sartzetakis was intubated due to acute pneumonia and admitted to Laiko Hospital in Athens. He died from acute respiratory failure on February 3, 2022, at the age of 92. The Greek government promptly announced a period of national mourning from February 3 to February 5, during which flags were lowered to half-mast across the country. His state funeral took place on February 7 at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. He was subsequently buried in the First Cemetery of Athens during an intimate family ceremony.
6. Honours
In recognition of his state service, Christos Sartzetakis was awarded the Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry by Portugal in 1990.
7. Legacy and Assessment
Christos Sartzetakis's legacy is characterized by both his significant contributions to the Greek justice system and his controversial presidency, reflecting a complex figure in modern Greek history.
7.1. Positive contributions
Sartzetakis is widely regarded for his profound contributions to the Greek justice system, most notably his principled and courageous investigation into the assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis. His tenacity in exposing state involvement in the murder, even at great personal risk and subsequent imprisonment by the military junta, solidified his reputation as a defender of justice against state repression. As president, despite the political turmoil, his tenure is often seen as a period that maintained constitutional stability. His consistent emphasis on national reconciliation, particularly his efforts to bridge historical divides and acknowledge all sides of the Greek Civil War, is also viewed as a positive contribution towards national unity.
7.2. Criticisms and controversies
Sartzetakis's career, especially his presidency, was not without its criticisms and controversies. His formalist personality and adherence to Katharevousa, a conservative form of modern Greek, often led to public perception of him as rigid and detached from the common people. He faced public scrutiny for perceived extravagance, such as the widely reported (though disputed) incident regarding air conditioners imported without customs clearance. His legal disputes with comedians, though he was acquitted in those cases, further fueled criticisms regarding his public image and approach to satire. Perhaps most notably, his refusal to pardon Christos Roussos, which raised accusations of homophobia, created a significant controversy that strained his relationship with the government and highlighted broader societal debates on minority rights. These aspects contributed to a mixed public and political reception during his time in office.