Vasilios Kokkinos

Vasileios A. Kokkinos (1929 – 19 February 2019) was a Greek high-ranking judge who served as President of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece (Areios Pagos) from 1990 to 1996.

Life and career He was born in 1929 in Atalanti. He studied at the Law School of the University of Athens and entered the judicial branch in 1956 through a competition. Previously, he served his military service in the Directorate of Naval Justice of the General Staff of the Navy from October 1952 to January 1956. Kokkinos remained President of the Supreme Court until 1996, and he was also President of the Special Court during the trial of the Bank of Crete case in 1991. Yannopoulos responded with his own articles about Kokkinos' conduct in the field of Justice.

Besides Yannopoulos, Kokkinos had public disputes with his colleague, judge Stefanos Matthias, who succeeded him as President of the Supreme Court. In an article, Matthias argued that "it is unacceptable in the 21st century for Greek Justice to be under ecclesiastical guardianship" and criticized practices such as holding blessings at the beginning of the judicial year or involving priests in judicial body events. Kokkinos accused Matthias of being perjurious for these views. On appeal, the sentence was not suspended, and thus Karatzaféris faced imprisonment. He eventually fled to Cyprus, where he hosted a daily radio show titled “Good Morning Mr. Kokkinos,” which aired in Greece on the radio station “Oh FM.” He returned to Greece when he was acquitted by the Areios Pagos.

Death Kokkinos died at the age of 90 on 19 February 2019.