Stelios Mavrommatis

Born in the village of Larnakas tis Lapithou¹, Kyrenia province, on November 15, 1932.

Hanged in the Central Prison² of Nicosia, on September 21, 1956.

Stelios Mavrommatis finished primary school in his village and the Samuel Commercial School in Nicosia. He worked for two years in the British army in Suez and then worked at the British airport in Nicosia as a clerk until his arrest. He was a member of the committee of the SEK and THOI unions in his village, the establishment of which was spearheaded by his father.

With the beginning of the struggle, he joined EOKA and took part in a sabotage operation against British planes. He also contributed substantially to the collection of hunting weapons from private individuals in the Nicosia area. He was particularly active in the area of Ledras³ and Onasagorou Streets⁴, which the British had called the “mile of death”. Among his collaborators was his cousin Evagoras Pallikaridis. His close associates in the transport and concealment of weapons, as well as in the hosting and escape of wanted persons, were his parents and siblings.

In an unsuccessful attack by himself and his two comrades against the British squadron Normal Alfred and the airman Lawrence Leath of the British Royal Air Force on Agios Pavlos Street in Agios Dometios⁵, Nicosia, Stelios Mavrommatis was stopped while leaving by an English resident of the area and was arrested by the two English airmen. He was sentenced to death and hanged along with Andreas Panagides and Michael Koutsoftas. The courage with which he faced his execution is enviable, and which he describes in his last two letters.

During searches conducted by English soldiers in his parental home, after his execution, he discharged a soldier's gun, wounding his sister Maria in the spine and confining her to a wheelchair since she was 27 years old.