Nikos Beloyannis

Nikos Beloyannis was a prominent Greek resistance fighter who fought against the Axis occupation in ELAS and later became a symbol of political resistance during the post-Civil War era.

Arrested in 1950 by the right-wing royalist government on charges of espionage, Beloyannis defended his patriotic and socialist principles with calm dignity in military court, famously holding a red carnation.

Despite a massive international campaign for clemency supported by Picasso, Charlie Chaplin, and Jean-Paul Sartre, he was executed at dawn, becoming an enduring international symbol of ideological conviction.