Panos Routsis: The Handwritten Note of Support Left by Dimitris Koutsoumpas – ‘We Are By Your Side’

Panos Routsis is today, October 1, 2025, on his 17th day of hunger strike, as growing numbers of people rally around him in his quest for justice for his son, who was among the victims of the Tempi tragedy. Among those offering support to Routsis—whose body has severely weakened due to the prolonged hunger strike—is Dimitris Koutsoumpas. Today, a day of general strike with crowds gathered at Syntagma Square, Routsis was moved to a secure location after doctors deemed it dangerous for his health to remain at the protest site. Earlier Wednesday morning, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Dimitris Koutsoumpas, visited him and left a handwritten note before joining strike mobilizations in central Athens. “To the fighting father Panos Routsis, wishing you strength! We are by your side! The entire Greek people stand with you, until final justice is served, until all the guilty sit in the defendant’s chair. So that such crimes never happen again. With respect and solidarity,” wrote Koutsoumpas. It should be noted that the exhumation process of Routsis’s son, Denis, previously scheduled for this Friday (October 3, 2025), has been postponed to next week.