Similar atrocities took place on June 26, 1947, near Sparta. In the village of Vrondamás, a group of armed police found Panagiotis Tsembelis conducting a Bible study with a newly interested woman. Both were beaten; the police wanted to hang the woman, but some villagers intervened. After torturing the brother and smashing his jaw, they bound him and dragged him a mile [about 1.5 km] outside the village. He was then shot and killed by armed police.

George Constantakis, a pioneer, was taken into the nearby woods and executed.

Executions of Integrity-Keepers

The April 8, 1948, Awake! reported on the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Greece. A special letter was sent to the Greek minister of public order protesting the March 5, 1948, execution by guerrillas of 37-year-old Christos Moulotas, father of four children, for his refusal to render services to them. It also stated that government authorities had executed John Tsoukaris of Karytsa, Larissa, on February 9, 1949.

The brothers in the Larissa Congregation had tried in vain to obtain his release. During the few days before his death, they were able to get some letters through to him. In his final letter, dated February 7, 1949, Brother Tsoukaris wrote:

“My dear brother, my situation rests in the hands of Jehovah of hosts. This morning . . . they took me to Mizourlo [the place of execution], but they did not execute me, as they said the hour was too late. Still, they saw my courage, and this impressed them. I don’t know if my execution will be tomorrow morning, but let us always have confidence, and let us entreat Him. Do not let us fear man because the Bible says: ‘Trembling at men is what lays a snare, but he that is trusting in Jehovah will be protected.’ Let us have such faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who said quite clearly: ‘O King, if it is so, the God whom we worship can deliver us from the fiery furnace, however, if he does not, then let it be known to you that the image of gold that you have set up we will not worship and your gods we will not worship.’”

On the 9th of February, he was led to Mizourlo and executed. Awake! readers sent thousands of letters to government ministers, embassies, and consulates to protest such executions. But a Greek Orthodox theologian and professor at Athens University supported the execution of Brother Tsoukaris, saying: “To refuse to take up arms because of conscience is a thing entirely unknown and inconceivable among us.” Sadly true, those words!