Veteran leftist politician Leonidas Kyrkos has died after a long illness. He was 87-years-old.
A longtime member of the Greek Communist Party, who was persecuted and jailed for his activism, Kyrkos was among a group of reformers who left the party in 1968 to form their own group.
He died Sunday morning, according to all major TV stations and the state-run Athens News Agency, citing several of the country’s political parties.
Kyrkos was instrumental in creating the Coalition of the Left, which briefly reunited the reformists with the Communists and other independent leftists in 1989.
Kyrkos was first elected a Greek lawmaker in 1961 and served for 17 years in several stints over a period of more than three decades. He was also a European lawmaker from 1981-1985..
His funeral is due on Wednesday.
(source: AP)
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