Construction work near one of Greece's most notorious prisons in Thessaloniki has unearthed the remains of dozens of people executed during the Greek Civil War era, relatives and officials said Wednesday. So far, 33 skeletons have been found near Eptapyrgio prison northeast of the city, a former Byzantine-era fortress later known as Yedi Kule under Ottoman rule.
The Greek civil war lasted from 1946 to 1949 but executions of political prisoners held for alleged affiliation to the Greek communist party (KKE) continued for years thereafter.
It is estimated that over 150,000 people lost their lives during the conflict, while around 800,000 people were displaced.
"We are here today with very mixed feelings. We are happy because, even after 80 years of delay, we found the skeletons of the people who lost their lives for their ideas and for the country," said the local mayor of Sykies municipality, Simos Daniilidis.
But he added that they were "saddened, embittered, and angry" because of the killings, which he termed "inhumane, horrific, inconceivable things for today's Greek civilisation".
The first remains were discovered in December during work in a city park. One of the victims is believed to be a woman.
"In the dark years of the civil war, the area was used for the execution of political prisoners, or the relocation of their bodies, as it was very near the prison and was uninhabited at the time," Sykies municipality said in a statement.
Many of the victims are believed to have been killed for links with the KKE. A party delegation was present Wednesday to lay flowers at the site.
With assistance from archaeologists, the excavation has uncovered clothes, jewellery and bullets.
"Thirty-three skeletons were discovered in four clusters. The skeletons are not in very good condition due to the soil and conditions. They are very fragile," said archaeologist Stavroula Tsevrini.
The findings have been handed over to the police and efforts have already begun to identify the skeletons through DNA tests. The municipality has put out a call for relatives and descendants of civil war victims to step forward to speed up the identification process.
The KKE party is compiling a list of executed political prisoners for publication.
"During the civil war in this region, approximately 400 people held in Yedi Kule as political prisoners were executed," said Spyros Kouzinopoulos, a journalist who has written a book on the issue, drawing on police archives.
"The executed were buried in mass graves without their relatives knowing where each one was buried. Here the area is full of remains," he told AFP.
Miltiadis Parathyras said his uncle Rigas was executed at the location in March 1951.
"He was a captain in the (communist) Democratic Army, arrested in 1949 and held in prison for about two years. He was executed at the age of 24 along with five others in March 1951.
"We don't know where he is buried. Where did they throw him?"
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