Escape by Red Carpet

Shortly before noon, the Luftwaffe JetStar landed at Athens airport and taxied over to the sector operated by the U.S. Air Force. Ostensibly, the JetStar was on a routine diplomatic courier mission, and the three crew members told Greek officials not to bother with passports: "We will be leaving shortly." Then two passengers--a German army major in uniform and a young woman --got off and drove in to Athens.

Just as the plane arrived, the Athens Court of Misdemeanors happened to be hearing the case of Prisoner George-Alexander Mangakis, 49. Mangakis, who was serving an 18-year prison term for attempting to topple the Greek military regime, had requested a temporary suspension of his sentence for reasons of health. After doctors testified that he was in danger of losing his eyesight, the judges granted an eight-month remission of the prison term. Mangakis, after all, was no ordinary convict: a German-educated Greek university professor, he is regarded as a world authority on penal law.

After the hearing, the professor drove home with his wife Angheliki, who had already served a year in jail for claiming that her husband had been tortured. They were met by the German woman and driven to the waiting plane, where West German Ambassador Peter Limbourg, 56, saw them off. Champagne corks popped and four hours later Mangakis was in West Germany, waiting to take up a new post at the University of Heidelberg.

When the news of Mangakis' departure broke, it was assumed that the regime had secretly negotiated with Bonn to let the famous prisoner go (Mangakis is a close friend of West German Federal Cabinet Minister Horst Ehmke). Such arrangements, at U.S., French or British instigation, had previously resulted in the release of Professor Andreas Papandreou, Composer Mikis Theodorakis and Lady Amalia Fleming.

The regime of Dictator George Papadopoulos, *however, evidently took umbrage at the red carpet treatment accorded Mangakis; ambassadors, after all, do not usually see political prisoners off. Charging that "some foreigners and their lackeys" had carried out "an unprecedented act of gangsterism," it abruptly declared Ambassador Limbourg persona non grata. Limbourg, as surprised as everyone else, suffered a mild heart attack. At week's end the West German Foreign Ministry agreed to recall Limbourg.

The Greek Foreign Ministry also lashed out briefly at the U.S. The use of the American base at Athens airport in the incident, it said, violated "both the letter and the spirit of the U.S.Greek bases treaty." The U.S. is currently negotiating to incorporate home port privileges for the U.S. Navy into the treaty. After the U.S. protested its innocence, however, the regime formally absolved the Americans of involvement in the affair.

THE WORLD

-Which last week celebrated its fifth anniversary with speeches advertising how it had regained worldwide respect for Greece's sovereignty.

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