Filenews 14 September 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivassilis
Israel for the first time publicly referred to the planned murder of Israeli businessmen that was prevented last year in Cyprus, with the arrest of an armed Azerbaijani.
In a rare appearance by Israeli standards, Mossad Chief Dedi Barnea, participating in a conference on methods of countering terrorism that has been held for the last two days at the Israeli Reichmano University and referring to the successes of his Service, in recent times, included Cyprus.
He specifically said that an assassination attempt in Cyprus against Israeli businessmen had been avoided. Mr. Barnea stated that "in recent times, we have prevented dozens of terrorist attacks abroad. In Cyprus, an assassination attempt was avoided against Israeli businessmen, in Turkey against a local businessman and against a former Israeli diplomat who was in the country, as well as in Colombia and elsewhere." Especially with regard to the terrorist attacks that were being prepared on Turkish soil, Barnea stressed that "together with the Turks we stopped the terrorists who were literally with the finger on the trigger."
The case with the cancellation of the alleged attempted murder of Israelis in Cyprus is set for continuing its hearing before the Permanent Assize Court of Nicosia for September 21. In the dock are 39-year-old Azerbaijani Orhan Asadov, who allegedly planned the murder of five Israelis permanently settled in Cyprus, as well as two 28-year-olds from Pakistan as his associates. Initially, six people were charged in the case. The two were removed from the indictment after it was ruled that there was no involvement in the crime under planning. Another person, a 21-year-old Cypriot student originally from Lebanon, was sentenced to 12 months in prison with a three-year suspension on March 1.
A sports pistol was found in Azeri's possession, while a second pistol was found in Paphos, for which one of the two Pakistanis is accused.
