The Greek local theater world paid their last respects to actor Minas Hatzisavvas on Wednesday at the 1st Cemetery of Athens. his family, friends, fellow actors gathered at the funerary service. Following the state funeral, his body will be transfered to Bulgaria for cremation according to his final wishes.

The coffin, carriers and general color of the funeral was white, just as Hatzisavvas had requested.

The deceased partner Kostas Falelakis, sisters and nieces had called for people to donate money to offer to refugee organizations rather than have wreaths at the ceremony.

During the ceremony, Falelakis took the podium and declared his love for the deceased. “Minouli,” he said. “I can’t yet fathom what has happened. It is a farewell feast today and that’s how I want us all to feel. Minas and I met in 1991 and fell in love when he read me a poem by Kiki Dimoula. Minas won’t be buried, we’ll remember him forever. It’s unbelievable what happened at the hospital when I went to claim his body and let me say this as a message to the prime minister regarding civil partnership arrangements. I was with him for 25 years but it wasn’t assumed that I could just claim his body,” he said. “There was a huge bureaucratic process with police statements of declaration. You know that in life there are always homosexual men who choose to be together and join their lives as such. Let’s think about this.”