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| Sifis Valikaris |
He was pursued and persecuted by the Greek Junta. In 1971 he fled to communist Albania.
Former Greek Minister Sifis Valirakis was found dead by the Greek Coast Guard near Eretria, 40km north of Athens.
According to the Greek Coast Guard, the well-known Greek politician was found at sea, just a few meters away from his motorboat with the engines still running.
It was his wife who notified the authorities after Valirakis had not returned to the apartment after a boat trip he had made in the calm waters of the Gulf of Eretria.
Immediately, the Coast Guard arrived in the area, which initially found the dinghy, whose engines were still at work, while a little away was found his lifeless body.
The first suspicions are that he may fell into the water from his vessel, and lost of life as a result of hypothermia, as in the area the temperature was about 6 degrees Celsius. Sifis Valirakis was a well-known politician of the Greek left.
He had strong political activity against the military junta of colonels. Valirakis was on the list of people described as extremely dangerous by the Greek Junta.
He was imprisoned several times. Valirakis was able to escape from prison in Greece but was captured during his attempt to cross into Yugoslavia in 1971.
In the same year, he was imprisoned again in Corfu, from where he managed to escape and swim in communist Albania, where he sought political asylum. He was subsequently released by Enver Hoxha's government thanks to the intervention of China's Maoist communists, who mediated his release.
Valirakis's years in Albania were quiet, and with the fall of the Junta, he returned to Greece.
He maintained close relations with Albania and his friends in Albania.
Valirakis was known as a friend of Albanians and was even the defender of the rights of Albanian emigrants living in Greece.
He had several times criticized the sweeping operations against Albanians, and was one of the initiators of the law on providing Albanian emigrants with residence permits in the country.
From 1977-2003 he was regularly elected deputy of Chania in Crete.
He served as Minister of Transport and Minister of Order until he finally left politics in 2003.