About Stelios Tritaios

He was born in the village of Pyrgos Tillyria, in the province of Nicosia, in 1930. He died on 17 June 1958 in London, where he was taken for treatment after being tortured by the British. Stelios Tritaios finished primary school in his village and worked in Nicosia.

He joined EOKA from the beginning of the struggle together with the hero Georgios Nikolaou and collaborated with the guerrilla group of Kato Pyrgos, as well as with local EOKA agents in the area. It was the main link of this isolated area with Nicosia. Arranged the correspondence, armament and clothing of the guerrillas in bags of bran. The English could never find out anything.

After the execution of a traitor in Pyrgos by EOKA, in November 1956, the betrayal was continued by his relatives and many members of EOKA were arrested in the area, including Stelios Tritaios. They were held in an air camp between Pentagia-Xeros, where they were tortured for seventeen days.

When Stelios Tritaios was released to go home, he was seriously injured in the chest where he was beaten with a chain. He was placed under house arrest, but his condition was deteriorating. Repeated attempts by his wife and rivals to flee him for medical treatment in England, where his brothers were staying, failed because he could not move without being supported.

In June 1958, Governor Sir Hugh Foot, who had replaced Governor General Harding since the end of the previous year, facilitated, in a gesture of political expediency, Tritai’s mission to London for treatment. On June 17, 1958 he underwent heart surgery.

According to what Chief Scott, who operated on Tritaio, told his son much later, the hero was virtually dead from the moment he received a severe blow to the chest. This stroke had caused necrosis of part of the heart. With the removal of this dead part, the death occurred, two hours after the operation.