Giorgos Tragas, an outspoken opponent of Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, has died from the deadly virus. He was admitted to hospital on December 4 with acute breathing issues, and his condition then worsened.
On Tuesday, the Sotiria Hospital in Athens issued a statement confirming the 72-year-old had lost his battle against Covid-19. He had been admitted 10 days prior, having been diagnosed with coronavirus on November 30.
“Today, 14.12.2021, at 03.10, the journalist Giorgos Tragas, head of the Free People movement, died in the ICU of the Sotiria Hospital,” the medical facility said.
They confirmed that Tragas had not been vaccinated against Covid-19. He had previously claimed to have an underlying health condition that made him hesitant to get inoculated against the virus.
In February, angered by Covid-related restrictions, Tragas had started his own right-wing political movement, Free People. Its aim was to defend democracy and fight back against what it described as the “health dictatorship” that had been prompted in Greece by the pandemic.
On November 30, he revealed in a Facebook post that he had been diagnosed with the virus. “I am dancing the tango with Covid-19,” it read.
Tragas had enjoyed a long career in journalism, and had been among the best-known TV personalities in the early ’90s, when commercial stations made their debut in Greece. He had regularly appeared as a political commentator on primetime shows.
He was no stranger to controversy, and had been accused of promoting racist views related to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn political movement.