The KKE suffered a great loss just a few days before the battle of the local (18/5) and EU Parliamentary elections (25/5). Comrade Babis Angourakis, MEP of the KKE and candidate on the list of the Party for the EU Parliamentary elections on the 25^th of May, suddenly passed away on the evening of Monday 12/5.

Statement of the Central Committee of the KKE on the death of cde Babis Angourakis

The Central Committee of the KKE with great sadness announces the sudden and premature death of cde. Babis Angourakis

Comrade Babis Angourakis was born in 1951 in Bucharest, Romania, to parents who were cadres of the party and political refugees. His father was G. Angourakis (Psiloreitis), member of the CC of the KKE, who was killed in a car accident in 1967.

In 1968 he moved with his family to the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In 1973 he graduated as an engineer in Computer Science from the Dresden University of Technology. The Greek governments until 1979 refused permission for his family to return home. Shortly before his return home to Greece, he received his doctorate in Computer Science from the Dresden University of Technology where he worked from 1973 to 1979. He was organized in KNE in 1968 and later in the Party.

He participated in the Coordinating Committees of KNE and the student movement in the socialist countries and Western Europe.  He was elected to the Central Council of KNE at the 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd Congresses of the organization.

In KNE, he initially worked in the Ideological Committee and later in the International Relations Section.

He was elected to the CC of the KKE at the 12^th Congress. He was re-elected to the CC at the 13^th,14^th,15^th,16^th,17^th and 18^th Congresses of the Party.

In 1987 he undertook responsibility for the Information Technology, Research and Technology Policy Section of the Party.

He was Responsible for the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE from 1992 to 2009, contributing in particular to the organization of the International Meetings of Communist and Workers’ Parties.

He was an MP of the Athens A constituency from 1997 to 2000. In 2009 he was elected as an MEP of the KKE. He was a member of the National Council of the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE).

Cde. Babis had a contribution to the Party from positions of responsibility that he took on and dedicated his life from a young age to the Party and the people’s movement. He assisted in the international movement, the struggle of the peoples and internationalist solidarity. Amongst other things, he contributed to the establishment of solidarity brigades to Nicaragua. At difficult times for the Party and the movement, with the overthrow of socialism, he stood against the attempts to liquidate the Party and actively participated in the efforts for its regroupment.

Cde. Babis Angourakis dedicated his whole life to the struggle of the KKE, the working class and our people for a better future, for socialism-communism.

The Central Committee of the KKE expresses its sincerest condolences to his wife, Georgia, his two children, his mother, cde Evanthia, and to all those dear to him.

Cde. Babis Angourakis’ funeral will take place on Wednesday 14^th of May, at 4.30 pm in Kessariani Cemetery and will be a civil funeral.