Christos Sartzetakis (; 6 April 1929 – 3 February 2022) was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the president of Greece from 1985 to 1990.
Early life and education
Sartzetakis was born in Neapoli, Thessaloniki, on 6 April 1929. His 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.
He obtained a degree in law from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Sartzetakis was called by the attorney of the Greek Supreme Court Konstantinos Kollias to proceed with the investigation, as the case was transferred to the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki. In March 1964, he sent a letter to the Minister of Justice Polychronis Polychronidis in which he implicated the police and the State as responsible for the murder.
The Lambrakis investigation was the theme of the 1966 novel ' by Vassilis Vassilikos, and Sartzetakis was portrayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant in the novel's 1969 film adaptation by Costas Gavras.
After the Lambrakis prosecution, with permission to study commercial law and European Community law, Sartzetakis moved to Paris.
He was twice arrested by the Junta, first on Christmas Eve of 1970, and was tortured by Greek Military Police. After an international outcry, he was released from the Junta's prison in 1971. It was then that the Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou nominated Sartzetakis, a judge who had not been involved in politics, as a candidate to succeed Karamanlis, held on 29 March, for Sartzetakis to be elected the new president to a 5-year term, thanks to the votes of the 180 deputies from PASOK and the Communist Party.
Tenure
thumb|300px|Sartzetakis with Queen [[Beatrix of the Netherlands|Beatrix in a state visit to the Netherlands, 1989.]]
In 1986, Sartzetakis strongly opposed the bill that legalized abortion in the country. Between 1989 and 1990, he had to face an unprecedented triple electoral repetition due to the inability of the parties to form a government, mainly because to the Koskotas scandal implicating Papandreou and Papandreou's change of electoral law to prevent opposition party in gaining majority power. Faced with this situation, and heeding his appeal for a mistrial because he had murdered the man who wanted to prostitute him, the Papandreou government pardoned him, but was met with Sartzetakis' refusal to grant it. This fact provoked a wave of indignation accusing Sartzetakis of being a homophobe and soured his relationship with Prime Minister Papandreou. The pardon ultimately was granted in 1990 by Karamanlis.
His personality as president was assiduously criticized and satirized. He 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. Sartzetakis did, however, ascribe the same honor to other political personalities, such as Prime Ministers Andreas Papandreou, Costas Simitis, Konstantinos Mitsotakis and later President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos.
He was criticized for buying air conditioners, expensive at the time, on his return from China and not passing through customs. However, it was claimed that the reported shopping while on official visits shouldn't be solely attributed to him. On two occasions he denounced comedians for making fun of him. In 1986 Sartzetakis appeared in a photograph with the-admittedly large-iron cross and the staff of Athanasius the Athonite at the Great Lavra. Harry Klynn satirized him on the cover of his album "Τίποτα". It was then that he was sued alleging insults to religious symbols, although Klynn was acquitted. and considered the defeat of DSE in 1949 a "national victory", He, nevertheless, cooperated with Charilaos Florakis during the 1989 political crisis and eulogised him after his passing in 2005, praising the late communist leader for his "straightness, honesty and political rectitude".
His term of office ended on 5 May 1990 after failing to secure enough support for a second term in the 1990 presidential elections. Konstantinos Karamanlis took office for his second term as president after being elected the previous day by an absolute majority in Parliament. He then retired from public life, but continued to publish opinions in newspapers and articles on his website.
Personal life and death
Sartzetakis married Efi Argyriou with whom he had a daughter.
On 3 December 2021, he was intubated due to acute pneumonia in Laiko Hospital in Athens. The government announced a period of national mourning between 3 and 5 February, with flags lowered to half-mast. The state funeral took place on 7 February at Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens and he was later buried in First Cemetery of Athens in an intimate family ceremony.
Honours
- Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, 1990)