page_title: Trial of the Six
section_title: Trial
hierarchical_section_title: Trial of the Six / Trial
caption_attribution_description: English: The bench of the accused at the Trial of the Six: left to right, Admiral Goudas, Georgios Baltatzis, General Xenophon Stratigos, former Prime Ministers Dimitrios Gounaris and Nikolaos Stratos, Nikolaos Theotokis, and former Prime Minister Petros Protopapadakis
context_page_description: The Trial of the Six or the Execution of the Six was the trial for treason, in late 1922, of the anti-venizelists officials held responsible for the Greek military defeat in Asia Minor. The trial culminated in the death sentence and execution of six of the nine defendants.
context_section_description: On October 12, 1922, the junta constituted an "extraordinary military tribunal", which convened on October 31 and carried out a two-week-long trial in which the five most senior members of the overthrown administration (Dimitrios Gounaris, Georgios Baltatzis (el), Nikolaos Stratos, Nikolaos Theotokis (el), and Petros Protopapadakis) and General Georgios Hatzianestis (last commander-in-chief of the Asia Minor campaign) were tried for high treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. They were executed a few hours after the verdict was handed down, and before its publication on November 15, 1922. According to the decision, the six with their support for the return of exiled Constantine to the throne and with their decisions during the war against Kemal, damaged the national interests and strained the relations with the Allies, leading the country to the defeat. The decision was previously taken to the office of Plastiras, "leader of the revolution" to sign. He is reported to have read it and replaced the phrase "in the name of King George II" with "in the name of the Revolution".
  Two defendants, Admiral Michail Goudas (el) and General Xenophon Stratigos, received a life imprisonment sentence.  The ex-king's brother, Prince Andrew, also a senior commanding officer in the failed campaign, had been indicted as well but was in Corfu at the time.  He was arrested, transported to Athens, tried by the same tribunal a few days later, and found guilty of the same crimes, but was recognised as being "completely lacking in military command experience", a mitigating of ironic circumstance.  He was sentenced to death first and then banishment from Greece for life.  The prince and his family (which included his infant son  – carried in a vegetable wooded cot – Prince Philip, later the Duke of Edinburgh) were evacuated on a British warship on December 4, leaving Corfu island for Brindisi.
caption: The bench of the accused: from left to right, Goudas, Baltatzis, Stratigos, Gounaris, Stratos, Theotokis, Protopopapadakis
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