Christos Tsoutsouvis ( el, Χρήστος Τσουτσουβής; 1953 – 15 May 1985,

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

far-left militant, or "urban guerilla" fighter. Tsoutsouvis was killed in 1985 during an exchange of fire with police officers.

Biography

Christos Tsoutsouvis was born in 1953. During studies in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

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Tsoutsouvis became a member of anti-

dictatorial A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

movement PAK. After the fall of the dictatorship he was a represantive of the

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

political party in the elections of 1974. Afterwards he joined far-left

urban guerrilla An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a government using unconventional warfare or domestic terrorism in an urban environment. Theory and history The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society, resting both ...

organization

Revolutionary People's Struggle Revolutionary People's Struggle ( el, Επαναστατικός Λαϊκός Αγώνας), abbreviated ELA (ΕΛΑ), was a Greek far-left urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975 and disbanded in 1995. It was described as the largest terroris ...

(ELA) and participated in many armed actions. Tsoutsouvis left ELA in 1980 and founded own group the Anti-State Struggle ( el, Αντικρατική Πάλη). The Anti-State Struggle was to claim responsibility for the killing of prosecutor Giorgos Theofanopoulos on 1 April 1985. Greek Minister of Public Order Alexandros Floros stated that the Ministry had evidence that Tsoutsouvis was linked to the

Revolutionary Organization 17 November Revolutionary Organization 17 November ( el, Επαναστατική Οργάνωση 17 Νοέμβρη, ''Epanastatiki Organosi dekaefta Noemvri''), also known as 17N or the 17 November Group, was a Greek far-left Marxist–Leninist urban g ...

, and Tsoutsouvis' apartment was found to contain an armory of weapons along with "detonators, batteries and wiring for assembling explosive devices, a duplicating machine, equipment for faking license plates and burglary tools." He asserted that Tsoutsouvis and his organization was linked to the murder of District Attorney George Theofanopoulos, shot and killed outside his home in April 1985. On 15 May 1985 in

Gyzi Gyzi ( el, Γκύζη ); is a neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. Etymology The area was named around 1925 after famous painter Nikolaos Gyzis. By all rights, the neighbourhood should have been called Γύζη (). However, due to the fact that he sig ...

, near central Athens, three police officers investigating recent political murders detected a stolen motorcycle near Tsoutsouvis' apartment building. As they were investigating, Tsoutsouvis and an accomplice opened fire. Three police officers were killed in the exchange. Tsoutsouvis was also killed and his accomplice escaped.Hellenic Police http://www.astynomia.gr/index.php?option=ozo_content&perform=view&id=1994&Itemid=346&lang

Legacy

Christos Tsoutsouvis Revolutionary Organization

The left-wing, German terrorist organization, Christos Tsoutsouvis Revolutionary Organization, is named in his honour. Also translates as, Fighting Unit Christos Tsoutsouvis, it is thought to be connected with the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

. In 1986 the group bombed the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, West Germany's counterintelligence agency, in Cologne, Germany. In August 1987 the group set off bombs outside a government ministry and a police station in Athens.

In leftist and anarchist movement

The slogans "''Ένας, τρεις, Χρήστος Τσουτσουβής''" (meaning "''One, three, Christos Tsoutsouvis''") and "''Μπάτσοι το Γκύζη κάτι σας θυμίζει''" ("''Cops, Gyzi reminds you of something''") are often chanted by far-left and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

demonstrators in memory of the shootout that resulted in his death and the death of three of the police officers that confronted him. *

References

1953 births 1985 deaths Greek communists Communist terrorism Terrorism in Greece Far-left politics Resistance to the Greek junta Members of the Panhellenic Liberation Movement Deaths by firearm in Greece {{greece-stub Greek anarchists People from Tenea