Stylianos Pattakos (born November 8, 1912) is a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 military man who was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974

Greek military junta of 1967-1974

The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...

 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos

Panagiotis Kanellopoulos

Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a distinguished Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974....

 in a coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 on April 21, 1967.

He was born on November 8, 1912, in the small village of Agia Paraskevi in Rethymno Prefecture

Rethymno Prefecture

Rethymno is one of the four regional units of Crete, Greece. Its capital is the city of Rethymno. Today its main income is tourism. The countryside is also based economically on agriculture and herding.-Administration:...

, Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 and studied at the Hellenic Military Academy

Hellenic Military Academy

The Evelpidon Military Academy is the oldest tertiary level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of the modern Greek State....

. He was commissioned an officer and saw action in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

After the war, he eventually rose to the rank of Brigadier

Brigadier

Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

 and was assigned to the armoured divisions of the Attica

Attica

Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

 plain. It was then that he met Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos and Colonel Nikolaos Makarezos

Nikolaos Makarezos

Nikolaos Makarezos was a Greek Army officer and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.- Early life and career :He was born in 1919 in the village of Gravia, in the prefecture of Phocis...

. The three planned and executed the coup on the night of April 20 to April 21, 1967, claiming political anomaly had made them to do so. For his participation, Pattakos was awarded with the Ministry of the Interior. As head of that post, Pattakos stripped Greek actress and political activist, Melina Mercouri

Melina Mercouri

Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...

, of Greek citizenship. Mercouri retorted "I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Mr. Pattakos was born a fascist and he will die a fascist!"

On November 25, 1973, politically far right

Far right

Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

 Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannides

Dimitrios Ioannides

Dimitrios Ioannidis , also known as Dimitris Ioannidis, was a Greek military officer and one of the leading figures in the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.He was born in Athens to a wealthy, upper middle-class business family with roots in Epirus....

 overthrew Papadopoulos and Markezinis found himself sidelined. The following year, the 7-year Junta came to an end in the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus

Turkish invasion of Cyprus

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...

.

The newly-restored democratic government of Constantine Karamanlis

Constantine Karamanlis

Konstantínos G. Karamanlís , commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister, the 3rd and 5th President of the Third Hellenic Republic and a towering figure of Greek politics whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.-...

 put junta officials on trial for rebellion and treason and Pattakos was sentenced to death. That was later commuted to life imprisonment. He was released from jail in September 1990 due to "irreparable damage to his health".