Pafos Live 19 March 2025
The Nicosia Permanent Assize Court decided on Tuesday to postpone until Friday, April 25, the proceedings regarding the naturalization case involving former Minister of Transport Marios Demetriades and other persons.
The case was set this morning for the defendants to respond to the charges they face.
A total of ten persons, eight individuals and two legal persons, face 59 charges of influence, bribery, decimation, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, and violation of a Council of Europe convention criminalizing corruption.
In addition to Mr. Demetriades, Andreas Demetriades, Demetris Demetriades, George Demetriades, Eleni Simillidi, Jing Wang, Josef Friedrich Santin, Vasiliki Georgiou-Santin, Andreas Demetriades & Co LLC and Delsk (Cyprus) Business Services Ltd are also charged.
During yesterday's proceedings, the representative of the prosecution, Andreas Aristides, informed the court that two of the defendants' lawyers requested in a letter to the Attorney General the delivery of additional witness material, which, as he said, is being prepared and will be delivered by the middle of next week at the latest.
For their part, the defense lawyers unanimously requested that the proceedings be postponed in order to study the additional witness material. They also asked the prosecution to confirm that all witness material, whether telecommunications data or testimonies of persons, has been submitted.
In view of the above, the Court granted the request to postpone the proceedings and set 25 April at 9.30 a.m. as the next hearing.
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The amendment of one of the 24 charges against the two former Archimandrites, Nektarios and Porfyrios, in relation to the case concerning the financial aspect of the scandal of the Holy Monastery of Saint Habakkuk and specifically the reduction by €133,000 of an amount in the charge of illegal possession of property, was approved on Monday by the Permanent Assize Court of Nicosia. at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The court also approved the suspension of the charge of theft by proxy (category 5), which concerned monk Nektarios, at the request of the defense.
In addition, at the request of the prosecution, another charge numbered 25 was added to the indictment, relating to theft from a representative.
The two monks appeared again before the Permanent Assize Court of Nicosia, where the representative of the Prosecution, Elena Sophocleous, requested an amendment to category 16, concerning the illegal possession of property of €196,000, with the new charge changing the amount from €196.000.00 to €63.568.82.
In statements after the proceedings, the defendants' lawyer, Efstathios Efstathiou, said that following the request they submitted, "the prosecution today amended the indictment and suspended the most serious offense, which was included in the indictment."
He noted that "following the amendment, we continue to state that our principals are innocent and that is what will be proven at the hearing of this case."
The court rescheduled the proceedings for the defendants to respond to the charges against them on April 10, at 09:00.
The court ordered that the defendants remain free on the same terms.
The two accused monks face charges relating to, among other things, conspiracy to defraud, committing a felony, illegal possession of property over €63,000, theft from a dealer, forgery, circulation of a forger, theft, money laundering, false tax declaration and interference with a court proceeding.
It is noted that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the court, beyond any reasonable doubt.
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Filenews
Developments took place yesterday regarding the case of the coroner of the Republic, Nikolas Charalambous. At the request of his lawyer, Theofanis Andreou, the president of the Administrative Court, Filippos Komodromos, approved a decree for a short trial of his case, which was set for April 15.
It should be noted that the coroner was suspended by the Public Service Commission on 13/1 at the request of the Ministry of Health, for the death of a 25-year-old from Pakistan on the day of the Epiphany.
Nikolas Charalambous through his lawyer challenged this decision with an administrative appeal and today requested the immediate hearing of the case. Request, which, as we noted, was approved.
Lawyer Theofanis Charalambous, arguing for this request, said that his client is a witness and expert in serious criminal cases and death investigations and that the public interest requires that his appeal against the suspension measure be heard quickly. Arguing, that the suspension of Mr. Charalambous is against the administration of justice.
Charalambous was suspended from office last January for a period of three months as part of an investigation into the death of a 25-year-old from Pakistan, who turned out to have been shot dead by police. He was riding in a vehicle, which entered illegally from the occupied areas of Potamia and moved threateningly towards members of the Police.
The coroner during the autopsy of the body had not discerned the wound caused by a bullet.
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While an attempt is being made with a law proposal to permanently ban lambratzias in order to extinguish the dangerous traditional custom, a serious incident comes to demonstrate the necessity of prohibition.
As revealed by Filenews, a 19-year-old national guardsman, last Saturday, was attacked by an unknown group of people, with one of them shooting him with an air gun. All this, according to the 19-year-old, because he was considered to be the person who lit and burned a pile of wood for lambratzia, collected by youths in an area of Kolossi.
As our website is aware, following the complaint of the National Guard to the authorities, the members of the ICF Limassol proceeded to arrest a person aged 19 while 8 more persons are being sought. The suspect was brought this morning before the Court, which approved the request of the Police and ordered his detention for a period of 6 days. He is being investigated for the offences of unlawful carrying of a non-firearm, unlawful possession and use of a non-firearm, conspiracy, acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, assault causing actual bodily harm and malicious damage.
The incident took place last Saturday afternoon (15/3), with a national guard reporting that while driving, he was chased by two cars in the area of Ypsonas. The 19-year-old, after the chase, stopped his vehicle outside the house of a relative and then, before he could get out of the vehicle, four people in one of the two cars, approached him and hit him. According to the complainant, one of them was in possession of an air pistol, with which he shot him causing a small wound to his right arm and abdomen. He said his car mirror was broken, while some of the pellets damaged the steering wheel.
The 19-year-old, after the attack, got out of the car and at that moment the second vehicle that was pursuing him approached him. 5 people came out of it, with one attacking him and grabbing him by the neck.
After the above incidents, the National Guard went to Limassol Hospital, where he was examined both by the attending doctors and by a forensic pathologist, who found that he had a hematoma on the lips and abrasions on his right arm and abdomen.
In a statement given by the complainant, he claimed that the reason he was attacked by a group of people was for an incident that happened the night before (14/3), since it was believed that he was the person who lit a fire in a pile of wood for lambratzia in an area of Kolossi, which had been collected by young people.
Following the complaint, members of the Police carried out on-the-spot examinations at the scene and the owner of one of the two suspicious vehicles that pursued the complainant was located. Also, testimony from another person states that he saw about 10 people gathered outside the house where the national guard parked. He realized two people were holding a pistol and identified one as the 19-year-old suspect.
Investigators, after obtaining a court warrant for the arrest and search of the suspect and his vehicle, proceeded to arrest him. In a search of his residence, an air pistol and two metal boxes containing a number of pellets were found. The suspected interrogator did not want to cooperate with the prosecuting authorities and did not answer any questions, stating that whatever he has to say he will tell the court.
8 more persons are being sought for the case, while 4 reconnaissance factions are expected to take place. Clubs and other evidence allegedly in the possession of those involved are also being sought.
