The Colonel Musters Out

Shortly after dawn last Wednesday, a Greek government police car sliced through the thick fog and stopped in front of the luxurious seaside villa of George Papadopoulos. Dictator of Greece for 6 1/2 years and leader of the 1967 colonels' coup, Papadopoulos had been overthrown in the generals' coup last November, and three weeks ago, he was placed under house arrest by the civilian regime of Premier Constantine Caramanlis. Nonetheless, Papadopoulos had planned to run for Parliament in elections later this month, and there were rumors that his political ambitions went much further. To the policeman who knocked on his door, the former strongman looked as if he assumed "that we were bringing good news."

Instead, Papadopoulos found himself under arrest, with orders to pack a small bag--fast. At a police station, the charges were spelled out: "plotting to undermine the peaceful progress" of the elections and "developing subversive activities." Papadopoulos also faces charges that he was "morally responsible for the premeditated murder" of 34 Greeks by soldiers during demonstrations last November, a crime that carries the death penalty. Meanwhile, Papadopoulos' financial dealings during his years in power are being probed. His wife Despina is under investigation for receiving money from KYP, the Greek intelligence agency, without performing any known service.

An Anniversary. Papadopoulos was whisked off by missile boat to exile on the island of Kea, 40 miles southeast of Athens. Four of his associates, including former Deputy Premiers Stylianos Pattakos and Nikolas Makarezos, were also on board, charged with similar crimes. Absent and wanted was the brigadier general who ousted Papadopoulos last year, Dimitrios Ioannidis. At week's end Ioannidis was still at large.

As the boat got under way, Papadopoulos looked shaken. In fact, he was being exiled under the same law that he had used to round up more than 10,000 political opponents, who had been given even less time to pack their bags before being sent to much bleaker island prisons. Indeed, most were dispatched without notification of their families or a formal reading of charges.

Caramanlis has been under pressure to deal more firmly with former members of the dictatorship. After the investigations, Papadopoulos is expected to be transferred to a mainland prison, probably before Nov. 17--the anniversary of last year's massacre and the date Greeks will vote for deputies to the 300-seat Parliament that the exiled colonel closed when he came to power. One of the candidates is Alexandros Panagoulis, 33, who was arrested in 1968 for trying to blow up Papadopoulos' car.

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