Greek Military Police

The Greek Military Police (Ελληνική Στρατιωτική Αστυνομία), generally known in English by the acronym ESA (ΕΣΑ) was the main security (secret police) and intelligence organisation during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.

Junta
In April 1967, shortly after seizing power in a coup, junta leader George Papadopoulos appointed Dimitrios Ioannides chief of the ESA, which gradually had been transformed into an internal security army.

When Papadopoulos declared Martial law after the 1967 coup, he increased the power of the ESA even further by making it the junta's chief arm of law and order as well as repression.

Thousands of the junta's political opponents were arrested by the ESA and sent to some of the Aegean's most desolate islands. Many of the allegations of prisoner torture under the Papadopoulos regime involved the ESA, in particular its Special Interrogation Unit (Ειδικόν Ανακριτικόν Τμήμα, tr. Eidikón Anakritikón Tmíma) (ΕAT or EAT/ESA).

Use of torture chambers by ESA during interrogations was reported during the Greek military junta years. Alexandros Panagoulis was one example of a person tortured at the EAT/ESA interrogation cell units. Greek politician Nikos Konstantopoulos is another example. Tagmatarkhis Spyros Moustaklis was left brain damaged and unable to speak after the torture he endured at EAT/ESA.

Alarmed at moves Papadopoulos was making towards a transition to democratic rule, loannidis used his position and power as ESA chief to oust him from power.

The ESA was disbanded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and its leading members involved in torture were court-martialled and sentenced during the Greek junta trials.

Members
Research based on interviews with 21 former ESA members shows that all had been men had been drafted, first into regular military service and then into the ESA. Carried out by Janice T. Gibson & Mika Haritos-Fatouros, the research also showed that recruits underwent series of rigorous treatments and training over a matter of months in order to prepare them psychologically for the task of torturing detainees.

Operating doctrine
According to witnesses at the court martial proceedings, ESA's operating doctrine was: "'Friend or cripple exits he who enters here'"

Buildings
In Athens, the headquarters of the Special Interrogation Sections of the Military Police (EAT-ESA) was in a building which now houses the "Eleftherios K. Venizelos" Museum at Eleftherias Park, Vassilissis Sofias Avenue.

ESA in culture

 * Iannis Smaragdis’ 1975 film ‘’Cell Zero’’ focuses on the violence and torture carried out at the EAT/ESA headquarters, examining the impact of the Greek junta on a group of people with differing political convictions.