After the end of the Occupation, his left-wing political beliefs and activism led to him being sentenced to death thrice; his imprisonments and legal troubles were often the topic of international interest, until his permanent release in 1971.

Glezos was an award-winning journalist, and worked as head-editor and editor for the left-wing newspapers Rizospastis and I Avgi, which are popular to this day; he also published six books.

In 1939, still a high school student, Glezos participated in the creation of an anti-fascist youth group against the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese and the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas.

At the onset of World War II, he volunteered to join the Greek army in the Albanian front against Italy but was rejected because he was underage.

On 3 March 1948, in the midst of the Greek Civil War, he was put to trial for his political convictions and sentenced to death multiple times by the national government.

Even though he was still imprisoned, Manolis Glezos was elected member of the Hellenic Parliament in 1951, under the flag of the United Democratic Left, also known as EDA (Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Αριστερά, ΕΔΑ).

Upon his election, he went on a hunger strike demanding the release of his fellow EDA MPs that were imprisoned or exiled in the Greek islands.

His release on 15 December 1962 was a result of the public outcry in Greece and abroad, including winning the Lenin Peace Prize.

He then essentially abolished the privileges of the council, introducing a "constitution" and establishing a local assembly that had total control over the community administration.

[citation needed] In the 2000 Greek legislative election he led the list of Synaspismos (in English Coalition) party of the radical left.

As an MEP he also participated in a support protest in Brussels, along with thousands of Belgians[11] in favour of Greeks voting negatively in the referendum, a few days before the latter takes place.

The same year, he left SYRIZA before the September 2015 Greek election, where he was an MP candidate with the newly formed Popular Unity party.

In an article for the Greek daily paper Kathimerini, he insisted that the people of the neighbouring country should "define themselves in accordance with their history, language, traditions... taking out of their mind the word Macedonia".

The Russian president Vladimir Putin sent a condolence message to the Greek government, which included, inter alia, the following words:[15][16] "To his Excellency, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

May you accept [my] deep condolences for the loss of Manolis Glezos, a brilliant political and social figure of Greece and a hero of the Greek Resistance at World War II.