Giorgos Lianis

He studied Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and was a football player for Ermis and Iraklis Thessaloniki. From 1969 to 1989, he worked for the newspapers "Thessaloniki" and "TA NEA" and the magazines "Epikaira" and "Tachydromos." From 1982 to 1989, he was a key member of the program "Reporters," which was twice honored as the best show on Greek television. He was a prosecution witness in the trial of the Junta, providing documents and recorded interviews against Georgios Papadopoulos, Colonel Ladas, and Konstantinos Aslanidis. In 1976, he undertook a journey of death into the depths of Turkey, bringing overwhelming evidence about the fate of missing Greeks and Greek Cypriots. This evidence was submitted by Archbishop Makarios during the Vienna intercommunal talks and to the UN. With 70 foreign missions, he covered the war in Lebanon, the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, the overthrow of Franco in Spain, and the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Odysseas Elytis. He was honored by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Diodoros and the President of South Africa Nelson Mandela. He was elected as a PASOK Member of Parliament for the Florina Prefecture for nine consecutive terms and served as Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports under Andreas Papandreou and Kostas Simitis.