19 Facts About Christos Sartzetakis

Christos Sartzetakis was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the president of Greece from 1985 to 1990.

Christos Sartzetakis's father, who served as a Gendarmerie officer in Thessaloniki, was a Cretan born in Kandanos, Chania, and his mother was a Greek Macedonian born in Sklithro, Florina.

Christos Sartzetakis obtained a degree in law from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Christos Sartzetakis entered the judicial career in 1955, became Justice of the Peace at Kleisoura, Kastoria, and in 1963, served as judge of the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki.

Christos Sartzetakis was called by the attorney of the Greek Supreme Court Constantine Kollias to proceed with the investigation, as the case was transferred to the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki.

Christos Sartzetakis was expelled from the judiciary along with 29 magistrates with the Greek Junta's Constitutional Act of 28 May 1968, allegedly because "in the exercise of his functions, he acted in a discriminatory manner, motivated by his political convictions in favor of a political party, in a way that violated the confidence of the citizens in his impartiality".

The Lambrakis investigation was the theme of the 1966 novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos, and Christos Sartzetakis was portrayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant in the novel's 1969 film adaptation by Costas Gavras.

Christos Sartzetakis was twice arrested by the Junta, first on Christmas Eve of 1970, and was tortured by Greek Military Police.

In September 1974, after the toppling of the dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in Greece, Christos Sartzetakis was completely rehabilitated.

Christos Sartzetakis was named president of the Court of Appeals in 1981 and became a member of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece in 1982.

That vote was controversial as the ballot papers were of different colors, with Christos Sartzetakis' being blue and the others white, causing a violation of the secrecy of the vote.

In 1986, Christos Sartzetakis strongly opposed the bill that legalized abortion in the country.

Christos Sartzetakis demanded that newspapers refer to him as "Sir" with a capital "K", used the conservative form of modern Greek called katharevousa and was altogether considered a strict formalist with rigid thinking far removed from the people.

Christos Sartzetakis did ascribe the same honor to other political personalities, such as Prime Ministers Andreas Papandreou, Costas Simitis, Konstantinos Mitsotakis and later President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos.

Christos Sartzetakis was criticized for buying air conditioners, expensive at the time, on his return from China and not passing through customs.

In 1986 Christos Sartzetakis appeared in a photograph with the-admittedly large-iron cross and the staff of Athanasius the Athonite at the Great Lavra.

Christos Sartzetakis then retired from public life, but continued to publish opinions in newspapers and articles on his website.

Christos Sartzetakis married Efi Argyriou with whom he had a daughter.

Christos Sartzetakis died of acute respiratory failure on 3 February 2022, at the age of 92.