latter and at the 13th KKE conference in early 1991 —even before the fall of Mikhail Gorbachev and the dissolution of the Soviet Union— the party officially withdrew all support from Synaspismos and Florakis was elected honorary president of the KKE. Death Florakis died of heart failure at his home in Athens on 22 May 2005. Florakis' body lay in state at the KKE headquarters in Perissos on May 24–25 where thousands of party members and sympathisers queued to pay their respects. Party leader Aleka Papariga addressed a civil funeral on the evening of May 25 which was attended by the President of Greece Karolos Papoulias, prime minister Costas Karamanlis, parliament speaker Anna Benaki-Psarouda, opposition Pasok party leader George Papandreou, Left Coalition leader Alekos Alavanos, Cypriot communist party AKEL leader and Cyprus parliament speaker Dimitris Christofias, many ministers and MPs and other dignitaries. He was interred on May 26 at the Agios Ilias cemetery in his native village. Awards Florakis received many awards during his lifetime for his multiple achievements and political activities: Order of Friendship of Peoples, from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Order of Karl Marx, from the German Democratic Republic Dimitrov Prize, from the People's Republic of Bulgaria Order of Lenin, from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1984 Further reading Wilsford, David, ed. Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe: a biographical dictionary (Greenwood, 1995) pp 144-150. External links In memory of Charilaos Florakis Culture centre "Charilaos Florakis" 1914 births 2005 deaths People from Karditsa (regional unit) General Secretaries of the Communist Party of Greece Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Greece Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Lenin National Liberation Front (Greece) members Chairpersons of Synaspismos Lenin Peace Prize recipients Democratic Army of Greece personnel Frunze Military Academy alumni