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People
Cyprus
Mihail Karaolis (1933-1956)
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Mihail Karaolis {Μιχαήλ Καραολής} (1933-1956). Karaolis was a known figure of the 1955-1959 Struggle for Liberation from British rule, which led to the liberation of Cyprus and its being declared an independent republic in 1960. Karaolis originally came from Paleohori {Παλαιοχώρι}. He graduated from the British School and worked as a civil servant.
He was arrested on October 28th, 1955, and charged with killing a Greek-Cypriot police officer in Nicosia {Lefkosia ~ Λευκωσία}. He was found guilty at his trial (some sources say the trial was a parody) and hanged on May 10th, 1956, along with Dimitriou [People] at the age of 22.
Numerous appeals to save him were made from all quarters, but Sir John Allan Francis Harding (1896-1989, the British Field Marshal who was appointed Governor of Cyprus on September 25th, 1955, by the British government) was unrelenting and his decision harsh: "The law must take its course".
Despite the fact that he was dead, the British Administration of the island refused permission for his burial in a proper cemetery. He was buried in the cemetery of Nicosia Central Prison, which was known by the name "Imprisoned Graves" {Filakizmena Mnimata ~ Φυλακισμένα Μνήματα}.
Mihail Karaolis (1933-1956)
04-06-2004