Georgios Mavromichalis ( el, Γεώργιος Μαυρομιχάλης; 1800–1831) was a Greek who, along with his uncle Konstantinos Mavromichalis, assassinated the Governor of the First Hellenic Republic,

Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: � ...

, on 9 October 1831 outside of the Church of Saint Spyridion in

Nafplio Nafplio ( ell, Ναύπλιο) is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece and it is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important touristic destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the ...

, Greece. He was the son of the Maniot insurgent

Petrobey Mavromichalis Petros Mavromichalis (; 1765–1848), also known as Petrobey ( ), was a Greek general, politician and the leader of the Maniot people during the first half of the 19th century. His family had a long history of revolts against the Ottoman Emp ...

, who had orchestrated the revolt against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

's rulership over Greece. When his father was captured, placed in prison and charged with

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

on the order of

, Georgios and his uncle Konstantinos decided to exact revenge, as the apprehension of their patriarch was an act worthy of death according to their family. On , the duo decided to assassinate the Governor as he entered the Church of St. Spyridion in Nafplio. Konstantinos attempted to shoot Kapodistrias as he climbed the steps outside of the building, but the bullet missed and lodged in the church's wall where it remains visible to this day, and so he resorted to stabbing the governor in the stomach whilst Georgios impaled him through the heart, fatally wounding him. As the pair were escaping, the Greek army officer Gen. Fotomaras (who had witnessed the assassination from his own window across from the church before coming down to tend to the governor) shot Konstantinos Georgios, however, managed to escape and hide in the French Embassy, but he surrendered to the Greek authorities after a few days. He was sentenced to death by a court-martial and was executed by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

. His final request that the executioners not shoot him in the head so as to not mirror the brutality of his uncle's death which had so shocked and traumatized him. His last words were, "peace brothers!"

Sources

*Paroulakis, Peter H. ''The Greeks: Their Struggle For Independence''. Hellenic International Press (1984). . 1800 births 1831 deaths 1831 murders in Europe 19th-century prime ministers of Greece 19th-century executions by Greece Georgios Greek assassins Executed Greek people People executed by Greece by firing squad People executed for murder People convicted of murder by Greece Greek people convicted of murder Assassins of heads of state Maniots Constantinopolitan Greeks {{Greece-bio-stub