Suicide of Dimitris Christoulas – Press Coverage

An event which brings home the humanity of the situation in Greece. An event like this hopefully will show that the Greek government crisis is not about figures on a balance sheet but it is about people.

To state the obvious, the health of the Greek people should come above the debts they are being asked to pay, especially as the debts are not personal debt but government debt.

These facts have been lost, hopefully the death of Dimitris Christoulas will help bring some humanity to the situation.

Articles covering the suicide of Dimitris Chrsitoulas.

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/54580

Note found on Syntagma suicide victim
by Damian Mac Con Uladh 4 Apr 2012

People gather at the spot where Dimitris Christoulas, 77, took his own life on Wednesday morning. (photo:Reuters)

State media has reported that Dimitris Christoulas, the man who took his own life using a pistol on Syntagma Square, in central Athens, on Wednesday morning, left a suicide note.

“The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance. I believe that young people with no future, will one day take up arms and hang the traitors of this country at Syntagma square, just like the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945” the note said.

Georgios Tsolakoglou was the first collaborationist prime minister during Germany’s occupation of Greece during the Second World War.

The reference has been widely interpreted as a comparison between the wartime collaborationist government and the current government of Lucas Papademos.

The suicide occured shortly before 9am, as people went about their business on the square. Christoulas, 77, shot himself while standing next to a tree on one of the grassy areas on the square. He died from a single shot to the head, reports say.

He was a retired pharmacist, with a wife and a daughter. He sold his pharmacy in 1994.

Police sealed off the scene and ambulance staff covered the victim’s body, which was removed at around 9.30am to Evangelismos hospital.

Political reaction was highly vocal throughout Wednesday, with all parties offering their take on the tragic incident.

Laos head Yiorgos Karatzaferis noted in Parliament that the bullet that killed the man in Syntagma, also hit the conscience of the Greek political sphere. “This is not just a person that killed himself”, he said. “This event should make us understand that we have all been behind this, we have all pulled the trigger. What did this man see from us, before deciding to take his own life? He saw shady goings-on, he saw none of those that stole from him and the Greek people go to jail. What else did he see? He saw no help coming his way, as he tried to deal with his loans and debts. What did this man hear from us? He heard that no slack would be given to him, no room to move, while the political parties would get plenty of money. Money they did not deserve”.

“Death isn’t just to die, it’s also to live in despair, with no hope”, New Democracy head Antonis Samaras said of the event, before adding that “incidents like these are what makes the fulfilment of our duty even more important and even more urgent. We must help Greece out of its current state, we must help Greeks escape from despair”.

“We have watched all this time as suicides have escalated dramatically in our country, a product of the disgraceful financial policies followed by New democracy and Pasok”, was Syriza MP Litsa Amanatidou – Pashalidou’s take on the event.

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kamenos called for the suicides of those involved in the country’s current state. “It wasn’t this man who should have commited suicide. Rather, it should have been those politicians that knowingly led Greece to be crushed by this vice”, he said.

Yiannis Dimaras, party leader of the Hellenic Citizens’ Charriot stressed that “those who have voted away all the rights of this country, those who have given our dignity away, are those that are guilty for spilling the blood of this Greek pensioner”.

Dimitris Zafiriadis, party spokesman for the Democratic Alliance said that this action was an indication of the desperation that a large segment of Greek society is currently feeling, as it watches its way of life being violently altered”.

Meanwhile, Pasok MP for Corinthia and former party spokesman Panos Beglitis has come inder heavy fire for his comments while speaking to private television station Skai TV earlier on Wednesday. When asked why no one does anything to help people who are driven to such extremes due to mounting debts, Beglitis repsonded by saying that “in cases like these, we must be very careful when commenting about anything. All I can say, is that this mean was very brave and sensitive. We cannot however connect his suicide with the country’s current financial plight. Besides we do not even know if he amassed the debts, or whether his children had a hand in it”.

The shocked Greek community is issuing calls for a “Syntagma afternoon” later on Wednesday.

Motorcyclists are planning a protest ride around the capital starting at 17:30.

* Greece’s national suicide prevention helpline numbers are 1018 and 801 801 99 99

 

 

 

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/54632

 

Demonstrators gather in Syntagma after suicide

4 Apr 2012

 
People pay tribute to Dimitris Christoulas at the spot where on Wednesday morning the 77-year-old pensioner decided to end his life. (photo:Eurokinissi)

 
A number of people gathered in Syntagma square opposite parliament on Wednesday afternoon, around the spot where 77-year-old retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas had earlier ended his own life in despair over financial problems apparently linked to the economic crisis.

Responding to a call made over social networking sites, people from all corners of Attica started to gather in Syntagma to protest beneath the banner “Let’s not get used to death”.

“The way he chose is a statement of a political position and stance. If this man had killed himself at home there would not have been such a stir, as there had not been for the previous 1900 suicides. It is an incident that we must look at among many other incidents of suicide in our country, the country of sun and laughter,” the head of the Attica Pharmacists’ Association Kostas Lourantos said in statements to the AMNA.

Under the tree where the pensioner shot himself, the Attica Pharmacists’ Association of which he had been a member, laid a wreath, while others laid flowers and notes alongside.

According to a suicide note he left behind, the 77-year-old was pushed to despair by his dire financial situation.

Outlining his reasons for joining the protest in statements to AMNA, pensioner Stavros Efstathiou noted that “despair knows no bounds”, expressing his deep sorrow and his concern for the future. His feelings were shared by others in the demonstration as they protested against the on-going economic crisis.

Some also argued that political forces were attempting to exploit the tragedy for their own ends.

According to Lourantos, the elderly man had faced serious health problems and had reached his breaking point when he made the decision to take his own life.

“The options he had to choose from were either begging or ending his life. He chose the latter, because his dignity and self-respect did not allow him to live by begging,” Lourantos said.

The 77-year-old had been a member of the association until 1994, when he had sold his pharmacy. (AMNA)

 

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