For the next four years, Panagiotis Lymperopoulos will be President of the Supreme Court and for the next two years Evangelos Bakelas will be Prosecutor, as the Cabinet, during today’s meeting and following a proposal by Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis, decided on the appointment of the two judicial officials to the leadership of the hierarchy of the Supreme Criminal and Civil Court.

Today, the last day of the 2025–2026 judicial year, both Supreme Court President Anastasia Papadopoulou and Prosecutor Konstantinos Tzavellas are departing from the judiciary.

Who is Panagiotis Lymperopoulos
The 62-year-old experienced judge Panagiotis Lymperopoulos will remain in the position of President of the Supreme Court until 2030, which is the maximum allowed term for holding this position.

The new President of the Supreme Court has a multi-level career in the judiciary, which he entered in September 1993.

In 2023 he was promoted to the rank of Supreme Court judge, in 2025 he assumed duties as Vice President, and was also assigned the presidency of the 5th Criminal Chamber.

Panagiotis Lymperopoulos

Since late 2023 he has been spokesperson for Press and International Relations of the Supreme Court, following a decision of the Judicial Plenary of the Supreme Criminal Court, succeeding Vice President Maria Simitzi-Vetoula, who held the position for only six months.

In his academic background, in addition to his law studies, he holds a degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Department of Political Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a master’s in Public Management from the University of Peloponnese.

In 2023 he was seconded by decision of the Supreme Judicial Council of the Supreme Court to serve as advisor at the Ministry of Justice in order to assist in legislative work and in matters arising from Greece’s assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2024. His secondment to the Ministry of Justice ended in 2015.

He has also taught at the National School of Judicial Officers (Thessaloniki): a) judicial time management, b) judicial management, and c) judicial ethics.

He also has extensive union activity, having served for many years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Judges and Prosecutors. His involvement in union affairs lasted 18 years, starting in 2002 and ending in 2020.

In the Association of Judges and Prosecutors, he was repeatedly elected to the positions of vice president, deputy general secretary, and board member.

At the same time, he has participated in legislative committees and scientific working groups, both at national and European level, and also has extensive academic and publishing activity, with publications in legal journals, presentations at conferences, forums, etc.

Evangelos Bakelas
The 65-year-old Evangelos Bakelas entered the prosecutorial service in June 1991 and in July 2024 was promoted to Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court. In the prosecutorial hierarchy, he will remain in the position for two years, i.e. until June 2028. He is highly respected within the prosecutorial service and has strong academic training.

He holds a postgraduate specialization degree in Criminal and Criminological Sciences from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Evangelos Bakelas

Since 2011 he has been teaching at the National School of Judicial Officers. More specifically, since 2022 he has been a principal instructor in Criminal Procedure, enforcement of court decisions, and general issues of the Penal Code, while since this year he teaches matters concerning sentence conversion, conditional release, etc.

He has served as speaker and chair in conferences, seminars, and has been a member of legislative drafting committees, while his studies have been published in various legal journals.

From 2018 until last February he had strong union activity. In fact, for four consecutive terms (2018–2024) he was consistently elected first in votes as a member of the Board of the Association of Prosecutors of Greece. He served twice as President of the Association of Prosecutors of Greece (2021–2024 and 2025–2026) and twice as Vice President (2018–2021 and 2024–2025).

It is recalled that both Mr. Lymperopoulos and Mr. Bakelas were first in the preferences of their colleagues during the secret ballot held at the Supreme Court during the pre-selection stage, as well as first in the evaluation of the Conference of Presidents of Parliament that followed.