Panagiotis Lympberopoulos has been appointed President of the Areios Pagos—the Supreme Court of Greece—while Evangelos Bakelas assumes the role of Prosecutor General of the Areios Pagos. The appointments were made by the Greek Cabinet, following a recommendation from the Minister of Justice.
A New Chapter for the Supreme Court
Justice Lympberopoulos succeeds Anastasia Papadopoulou as head of Greece’s highest judicial authority. His four-year term is expected to last until his retirement from judicial service. He joined the judiciary in September 1993 and was promoted to the rank of Areios Pagos judge in 2023. In 2025, he assumed the post of Vice President of the court and was concurrently appointed President of its Fifth Criminal Division.
Since late 2023, Lympberopoulos has served as the official spokesperson for press and international relations for the Areios Pagos, a role assigned by the court’s Administrative Plenary Session. In 2023, he was seconded to the Ministry of Justice—by decision of the Supreme Judicial Council—to support legislative drafting efforts and address needs arising from Greece’s presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2024.
He has also taught at the National School of Judges in Thessaloniki on topics including judicial time management, judicial administration, and judicial ethics. For several years, he served on the Board of Directors of the Union of Judges and Prosecutors.
Prosecutor General Bakelas Steps into Leadership
Bakelas succeeds retiring Prosecutor General Konstantinos Tzavellas. His two-year term as head of the Supreme Court’s prosecution service begins now. He entered the prosecutorial corps in June 1991 and was promoted to Deputy Prosecutor General of the Areios Pagos in July 2024.
Bakelas holds a postgraduate degree in Criminal and Criminological Sciences from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and has been teaching at the National School of Judges since 2011. From 2018 through February 2026, he maintained an active role in judicial trade unionism—elected first in votes each time to the Board of Directors of the Union of Prosecutors of Greece across four consecutive terms (2018–2024). He served two terms as President of the Union (2021–2024 and 2025–2026), and two corresponding terms as Vice President (2018–2021 and 2024–2025).
Wide Collegial Support
Both Lympberopoulos and Bakelas were elected first in the internal ballot held among judges and prosecutors of the Areios Pagos—a strong indicator of their high standing and broad respect within Greece’s highest judicial body.