A Hero’s Tragic Beginning
Philippides Charalambos freedom fighter died from brutal torture on October 11, 1958,. He now rests in the Paphos interrogations area.
He entered the world in 1939 in the village of Arodes, Paphos. His birth tragically cost his mother, Maria Averkiou, her life. Soon after, both his father, Zacharias Philippidis, and his grandfather also passed away. His maternal grandmother, Evanthia Averkiou, then took on the responsibility of raising Charalambos and his sibling. After completing elementary school in Arodes, he attended the Paphos Greek High School until the fourth grade. He then spent six months studying at the Technical School of Leros. Eventually, he returned to Paphos, opened his own shop, and worked as a plumber.
Answering the Call to Arms
When the EOKA liberation struggle began, Charalambos immediately joined the fight. He became a member of the Paphos Executive and participated in many of its operations. In his home village, he executed a bombing mission against English soldiers at a construction site. Following these dangerous assignments, he would often retreat to the Paphos mountains, staying briefly with fellow fighters in their hideouts.
In one significant operation, the EOKA leadership ordered Charalambos and his comrade, Georgios Yagu-Georgi, to target an officer from the Crime Detection Department. This officer was known for torturing prisoners at the Paphos Auxiliary Corps. The two men shot the officer in the head, but he survived the attempt.
A Targeted Arrest and a False Story
After the attack, the authorities imposed a curfew. However, they granted Charalambos an exemption because he worked in the English barracks in Dasaki, Paphos. Despite this, officials arrested him after a man named Turkala identified him from a lineup, placing him near the scene of the attack. The court, however, found the testimony unreliable and acquitted him.
His freedom was short-lived. His comrade Georgios Yagu-Giortzis recounts, “Two or three days after the acquittal, I saw him sitting outside a café in Paphos. Two English officers, along with the son of the officer we had attacked and a policeman, approached and arrested him.” The next day, a rumour spread that Charalambos had escaped, and no one ever saw him again.
The British authorities issued an official announcement claiming he had fled and that they were searching for him, suggesting he might lead them to an EOKA hideout. This story masked the truth: they had tortured him to death.
