Georgios Iona Georgiou

Born in Lysi¹, Famagusta district, on October 26, 1938.

Killed by British soldiers in the orchards of Lysi on August 2, 1958.

Georgios Iona Georgiou graduated from Lysi primary school and worked as a bricklayer. He joined EOKA in March 1956 and was involved in printing and distributing leaflets, supplying and hiding guerrillas, transporting mail, selecting locations and preparing the area for attacks against British soldiers.

On August 1, 1958, his fellow fighter Andreas Panagides and other members of their group, accompanied the wanted Yiagos Panagides to join the remaining rebels and other fighters of Lysi and take part in an attack against the British near Lysi. In the ambush they set up, three military vehicles full of soldiers were hit with automatic weapons, hunting rifles and hand grenades, resulting in the death of two soldiers and the injury of many others.

The next day, the British imposed a fortnight's house arrest in Lysi and began investigations. During the confinement, the fighters Georgios Iona Georgiou, Anastasios Souroullas and Christofis Panagides broke through the village cordon and headed towards the village of Tremetousia². During their movement, they were spotted by a helicopter, which reinforced the British search. After their location, according to the testimony of a shepherd who was watching, a Turkish sergeant from the Athienou police station, head of the auxiliary forces, and Turkish citizens from the village of Arsos, ambushed them and killed them, assisted by the British.

The autopsy performed at the Nicosia General Hospital found that they had been hit in the head with automatic rifle bullets and stabbed in the abdomen and other parts of the body.