Nikolaos Athanasopoulos

Deputy Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance and also public prosecutor responsible for overseeing the preliminary investigation of Aristidis Pagkratidis by the police of Thessaloniki, where he was held for 6 days after his arrest following the attack at the Orphanage (1963). According to the courtroom testimony of Michos, on the final night of questioning at the police, he heard Athanasopoulos say: "Since I won’t be able to try him, I will ask to be part of the firing squad. That’s how certain I am."^[4]

That same year, Athanasopoulos also worked briefly with the prosecutor Christos Sartzetakis on the case of the Lambrakis assassination. In his later career, he was elected as a PASOK member of Parliament and appointed Deputy Minister of Finance. After his term, he was tried in connection with the "corn scandal," found guilty, and served a prison sentence.