Died Dimitris Tsovolas at the age of 80, after a battle with cancer.
Dimitris Tsovolas came from a poor family and was born in 1942 in the mountainous village of Melissourgoi, in Tzoumerka, Arta. His family suffered persecution in the post-civil war years due to their participation in the National Resistance and in the EAM during the Occupation.
He had studied Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and practised his profession lawyer in Athens for almost six decades. He has served as defense counsel in major trials, culminating in the legal representation of the family of Alexandros Grigoropoulos after 2008, while one of the last big cases he took on is the defence of Dimitris Papangelopoulos in the Novartis case.
He was married to Katerina Gioti and has two children. His son is a doctor and his daughter is a lawyer and a close associate.
The «son of the prosecutor», as he had described himself from the floor of the Parliament when he had spoken about his referral to the Special Court for the Koskotas-Kalkanis case, in 1991 entered politics immediately after the fall of the Junta.
He was a founding member of PASOK in 1974 and was first elected MP for Arta in 1977 and re-elected in 1981 and again in 1985.
From the first government of Andreas Papandreou to the impeachment of the founder of PASOK in 1989, Dimitris Tsovolas was placed in the Ministry of Finance, initially as Deputy Minister (1981-1984), then Deputy Minister (1984-1985) and Minister in the period 1985-1989, when at an election rally in Peristeri the Andreas Papandreou had said the phrase «Chovolos give it all», as he was popular for the benefit policies he implemented, especially after 1987, when he was replaced as Minister of National Economy by Costas Simitis, who had implemented the stabilisation programme after his second election victory PASOK, in 1985.
In May 1991, he was accused of settling the tax arrears of the businessman Kalkanis and was referred to the Special Court of Justice. In January 1992 he was sentenced to two and a half years' suspended imprisonment and three years' deprivation of his political rights, losing his parliamentary seat in April 1992. A by-election was held in the B of Athens and G.A. took his place. After all the runners-up in the 1990 elections had resigned, a second re-election was held in Athens.
Due to a three-year deprivation of his political rights, he was unable to stand for election in 1993 and, despite the favour he was granted, he did not want to participate in the PASOK government after its return to power in 1993.
If anything distinguished Dimitris Tsovolas, it was his firm and militant stance in defence of his views. In October 1995 he left the PASOK Central Committee and on 20 December of the same year he founded the Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI).
Dimitris Tsovolas managed to be elected again, in 1996, as a member of the Parliament of Athens with the DIKI, but in the 2000 elections he could not gather the necessary 3% to enter the Parliament.
Shortly afterwards he called for the suspension of the DIKI, which was not carried out by other members of the DIKI, and he left, returning the state funding. Since 2004 he has ceased to be actively involved in politics and has devoted himself exclusively to the law.
