Anastasios Polyzoidis (Greek:Αναστάσιος Πολυζωίδης, 1802–1873) was aGreek politician and judicial official.

He was born inMelnik,Ottoman Empire (nowadays inBulgaria), where he graduated localGreek school. From 1818 he was studying law, history and social studies inVienna,Göttingen and Berlin. At the outbreak of theGreek War of Independence, he interrupted his studies and returned toGreece. After a series of adventures he reachedTrieste, and from there he passed toMissolonghi along with somephilhellenes.

InMissolonghi he cooperated withAlexandros Mavrokordatos and was set in several gubernatorial positions (secretary of executive) in the Provisional Administration of Greece. He took part in theFirst Greek National Assembly atEpidaurus. There, almost on his own, he wrote the new state'sconstitution and the declaration of 15 January 1822, which informed the European powers, allied in theHoly Alliance, that the revolution was national and not social. In 1823 he was in charge of the committee, which was sent to London for the negotiation of a public loan. In 1827, he was elected representative to theNational Convention atTroezen. In October of the same year, he went to Paris, in order to continue his studies.

Returning from Paris, Polyzoidis found himself pitted against the autocratic government of GovernorIoannis Kapodistrias, and soon passed into the opposition, editing the newspaperApollon, printed atHydra. In 1834 he was nominated by the Bavarianregency to be president of a five-member court ofNafplio, which had to judgeTheodoros Kolokotronis,Dimitrios Plapoutas and other former leaders of the War of Independence on trumped-up charges of treason. Polyzoidis, together with fellow judgeGeorgios Tertsetis, knowing very well the innocence of the defendants, refused to countersign the decision of condemnation. The Minister of Justice,Konstantinos Schinas, personally intervened to force Polyzoidis to append his signature to the document "in the name of the King", to which Polyzoidis replied: "I prefer my hand to be cut off rather than sign." His stance caused his imprisonment and violent maltreatment. This refusal to accept royal intervention in the administration of justice was indicative of Polyzoidis' integrity, and his portrait, together with that of Tertsetis, now hangs in theAreios Pagos, the Supreme Court of Greece.

After the coming of age of kingOtto, he was rehabilitated and nominated as vice-president of theAreios Pagos and counselor of state. In 1837, he was named minister of education and of internal affairs. In the former capacity, he was instrumental in the establishment of Greece'sfirst university in Athens, while from his latter post he fought against censorship. Following the overthrow of Otto in 1862, he was appointed prefect of the jointAttica and Boeotia Prefecture. He died inAthens in 1873.

The events of the trial of Kolokotronis and the consecutive trial of Polyzoidis and Tertsetis have been portrayed in the 1974 Greek Film "Η δίκη των Δικαστών".^[1]

• Greece By Thanos Veremis Page 4ISBN 0-8108-2888-X
• Die griechischen Studenten in München unter König Ludwig I. von Bayern By Konstantin Kotsowilis Page 92ISBN 978-3-88006-166-8

• Greek Macedonians
• 19th-century Greek judges
• Greek revolutionaries
• Greek people of the Greek War of Independence
• People from Blagoevgrad Province
• 1802 births
• 1873 deaths
• Ministers of the interior of Greece
• History of Greece (1832–1862)
• People from the Ottoman Empire

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