Dimitrios Ioannidis, the feared security chief who led a countercoup against Greece's military leaders and provoked Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974, has died. He was 87.
Ioannidis, who was jailed for life for his part in the 1967-74 dictatorship, died Monday in an Athens hospital, a day after experiencing breathing problems in his prison cell, the justice ministry said.
He had spent the past 35 years out of the public eye in a special wing of the maximum security Korydallos prison, which was built during the military regime.
As head of the brutal ESA military police, Brigadier Ioannidis was a key figure in the military dictatorship that seized power on April 21, 1967 after years of political instability.
The ultraconservative dictators imposed martial law and cracked down heavily on political opponents, imprisoning or exiling thousands, many of whom were tortured by ESA.
The junta was condemned in the West, and the U.S. temporarily banned arms sales to Greece. But a 1971 visit by Vice President Spiro Agnew, who was of Greek descent, was viewed by many as tacit approval of the dictatorship.
Also see this Times article from Dec. 10, 1973: loannidis: Power in the Wings