Christofis Panagides

He was born in the town of Lysi¹, Famagusta district, in 1939.

He was killed on August 2, 1958 in the orchards of his village, in an ambush set up by the Turks.

Christofis Panagides finished the primary school of Lysi and was initially a painter and later a farmer. His family's contribution to the struggle was significant. A large number of guerrillas were hosted in his sister's house. He offered various services, such as printing and distributing leaflets, supplying the guerrillas of the area and preparing positions for attacks against the British.

On August 1, 1958, Christofis Panagides, his fellow fighter Georgios Iona Georgiou, and other members of their group accompanied his wanted brother Yiagos Panagides to join the remaining rebels and other fighters of Lysi and take part in an attack against the British. In this attack, which took place near Lysi, three military vehicles, full of soldiers, with automatic weapons, hunting rifles, and hand grenades, were attacked. Two British soldiers were killed and many were injured.

The next day, the British imposed a fifteen-day house arrest on the village and began thorough searches. During the siege, three fighters, Christofis Panagides, Georgios Iona Georgiou and Anastasios Souroullas, broke through the village cordon to avoid arrest and headed towards the village of Tremetousia². On their way, they were spotted by a British helicopter that was taking part in the searches.

According to the testimony of a shepherd who was watching, the Turkish sergeant of the Athienou police station, head of the Epikouriks, arrived with Turks from the village of Arsos, ambushed them and killed them.

The autopsy carried out at the Nicosia General Hospital found that the three young men were hit in the head with automatic weapons bullets and with a spear in the abdomen and other parts of the body.