Pafos Live 24 May 2025
A ten-year prison sentence was imposed today by the Paphos Permanent Assize Court, on a 57-year-old man, after finding him guilty after a trial in a drug trafficking case. The case concerned the possession of a quantity of cannabis with a total gross weight of 10 kg and 907 grams and a quantity of cocaine with a gross weight of 942 grams.
The quantities of drugs were detected during a coordinated operation carried out by members of the Anti-Narcotics Service (YKAN), last February, in the Paphos district.
On February 04, 2025, specifically, after evaluating information, the members of the Police stopped the car driven by the 57-year-old in an area of Paphos for control. In the vehicle, the members of the Police found 16 packages containing cannabis, as well as two packages containing cocaine, while in a search that was subsequently carried out, at the residence of the 57-year-old, the members of the Police found another package containing cannabis.
In total, a quantity of cannabis with a gross weight of 10 kg and 907 grams and a quantity of cocaine with a gross weight of 942 grams were found and confiscated, (Police Bulletin No. 1, dated 05/02/2025, is relevant).
The 57-year-old was arrested and detained. Upon completion of the police examinations, the Police proceeded to register the case for trial by the Paphos Permanent Assize Court. This morning, the Permanent Assize Court imposed concurrent prison sentences on the 57-year-old for drug possession and trafficking offenses, with a ten-year prison sentence for the offense of possession of drugs for the purpose of supplying to another person.
The case had been investigated by the Paphos District Police Department.
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Members of the Road Accident Prevention Squad of the Police Headquarters, the Special Motorcycle Squad, as well as members of the Traffic Police Headquarters and the Avdimos Squad, conducted yesterday, between the hours of 6 a.m. -6pm, a campaign in various parts of the city and the district of Paphos, as well as on the motorways.
During the campaign, which is part of the efforts made by the Police to reduce fatal and serious road collisions, as well as to consolidate road awareness and increase the sense of safety of citizens, a total of 384 complaints were made, of which 69 concern driving without a seat belt, 82 concern tachographs and 61 concern driving without hands-free driving. At the same time, 32 complaints were made for exceeding the speed limit, while six vehicles were detained.
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Pafos Press
An 18-year-old student in Paphos experienced moments of terror in the few minutes after midnight from Saturday to Sunday. While walking on a pedestrian street in the city, she was attacked by a young man, whose identity is currently unknown.
According to the complaint made to the Paphos Police, an attack against an 18-year-old student in the Paphos shopping center is being investigated. According to the complaint on May 18 at around 00:55 after midnight, while the 18-year-old was walking alone on the pedestrian street of Makariou Avenue, a young man followed her and at some point ran up from behind her and grabbed her with force, closing her mouth and trying to immobilize her.
The young woman panicked and began screaming loudly, causing the young man to immediately run away.
The incident has been recorded by CCTV cameras from nearby shops, where the young woman is clearly seen heading towards the pedestrian street and a person runs and violently grabs her. The 18-year-old's screams have also been recorded and can be heard in the video, which was obtained exclusively and is presented by PafosPress .
For the case, which, as we mentioned above, a complaint was filed with the Police, while the male suspect is being sought.
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Filenews
The organization Accept – LGBTQI Cyprus publicly denounced an incident of verbal attack against the LGBTQI community that took place on the sidelines of a pre-Pride event, recording the event in a relevant video published on social media.
According to the complaint, a group of people dressed in black showed up at the event shouting offensive slogans against the LGBTQI community, such as: "Unwashed and gay are not necessary." Attendees carried flags with double-headed eagles – symbols of Byzantine royal and ecclesiastical power – as well as Union flags.
Accept commented on the incident, saying: "Someone should inform the boys about today's facts because something went wrong in the history class at school and they don't know what century they live in." At the same time, responding to the protesters' slogan, he urged: "Let them investigate what the psychological term 'projecting' means."
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An explosion occurred shortly after midnight in a 21-year-old's car in the Acropolis area of Nicosia, while the vehicle was parked in the parking lot of his house.
According to the preliminary examinations carried out by the Police at the scene, the explosion was caused by an explosive device that had been placed in the front of the vehicle.
The Nicosia TAE continues its investigations into the case.
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On June 3, the three defendants will answer whether or not they plead guilty to the charges they face in connection with the unprecedented case of killing and dismembering a kangaroo in a parking lot of an apartment building in Deryneia on May 7. The defendants are a 36-year-old from Cameroon who was arrested in the apartment building, a 55-year-old Cypriot owner of a farm in Paralimni from which the kangaroo was taken, as well as a 54-year-old from Romania, who is the caregiver of the animals on the premises.
The three face charges in violation of the Animal Protection and Welfare Act. In addition, the 36-year-old faces charges of illegal stay on the territory of the Republic. During today's proceedings before the court, the defense counsel of the 55-year-old and the 54-year-old, Tasos Kyrmitsis, expressed his intention to submit a request for a re-examination of the animal either by a private veterinarian or by a private forensic pathologist. As he said, he will announce his final decision at the next trial. The court, meanwhile, accepted the 36-year-old's request for a legal action and appointed a lawyer, who asked for time to study the witness material.
It is recalled that the Famagusta Police decided to register a case against the three, after the autopsy of the kangaroo showed that its death was caused by a massacre. This refuted the original claim that the animal died after a fight with another kangaroo. According to the Police, the kangaroo was handed over alive to the 36-year-old and his compatriot, who is wanted, and then killed in order to consume his meat. For the case, a driver of a double cab who helped in the transport of the animal is also being sought. The other two were included in the indictment because they allegedly did not take appropriate measures to care for the animal.
The case was revealed when a complaint was made to the Police that two foreigners were chopping up an animal in the parking lot of an apartment building. Plastic bags containing a sliced kangaroo, an axe and five knives were found at the site. The 36-year-old was arrested on the spot, while the other foreigner managed to escape. As it was established, the foreigner had been illegally residing in Cyprus since 2022. It is noted that the 36-year-old remains in custody, while the other two defendants were released, under condition
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Revelations were made today at the Nicosia District Court, where the five arrested were presented in connection with the case of state documents found last month in a prison guard's home. It is noted that the Court issued a detention order for the five suspects, lasting seven days, for the purpose of investigating the case. It is also worth mentioning that both the 4 prison guards and the cadet Police officer were suspended, following instructions from the EDY and the Chief of Police, respectively.
As reported by the Police investigator, Lieutenant Chrysostomos Christou, the documents left the directorate's offices in cloth bags and were transported by trolley through a gate without control, through the "gate of the address" instead of through the Garrison where everyone passes.
The investigator referred to the testimony that exists from four persons (possibly in prison) for each suspect. As he said, the four arrested women were serving in the office of the Directorate and the prison guard was on file along with the prison guard, in whose house the documents were found.
As the investigator testified, a huge volume of documents were found in the prison guard's house in black and white fabric bags with the inscription "Cyprus Prisons Department" which, from a preliminary check carried out, were found to belong mainly to the Prison Department. Also, digital discs bearing handwritten notes with dates, computer and usb floppy disks, commemorative gifts, plaques, religious icons, paintings, soccer balls, etc., were found and received.
In a subsequent inspection, it was found that the documents consist of 300,000 pages and include architectural, topographical and spatial plans of the Central Prisons, copies of convict files, documents for disciplinary investigations of the Prison Department, several of which bear the note "CONFIDENTIAL", correspondence of the Police with the Prisons, correspondence exchanged between Prisons and other state services and state officials. The majority of digital discs concern footage from various parts of the prison.
According to the investigator, in the context of the investigation of the case, testimonies were obtained according to which the largest volume of documents and the rest of the property was moved from the offices of the Directorate of the Prison Department, through the staircase located in front of the offices. Also, according to the testimonies, the movement of the documents took place during the period November – December 2022, a period during which the four suspects worked in the offices of the Prison Department directorate. The documents were placed on a trolley which was transported from the area under the offices of the Directorate and then exited through a door in front of the Garrison, called the Directorate's door, without passing through the Garrison, which was the usual entrance-exit of the personnel and then led to the area in front of the control arch. which is the central exit of the prisons.
In at least one case, the person arrested on 13/4/2025 (prison guard) loaded the boxes with the documents into an official vehicle. Further, according to the testimony, in at least one case, the 2nd and 4th suspects (prison guards) gave instructions regarding the loading of the documents.
Also, as it was testified, in one case, the transfer took place during the working hours of the offices and the 5th suspect (prison guard) participated in the movement. He was then serving in the archives and his office was co-located with the jailer in whose house the documents were found. Also, in other cases, the prison guard who was in possession of the documents and the four suspects carried Prison clothing bags to the parking lot and returned without them.
The Police witness also mentioned that according to testimonies that have been obtained, in the offices of the then director of the Prison Department and her deputy, for as long as she was replacing her, i.e. until 2/1/2023, there were too many official documents and their offices had document storage cabinets. When both left on sick leave, their offices remained closed and only the staff of the Directorate's offices had access to them.
The investigator reported that on 11/01/2023, a new Deputy Director (Ioannis Kapnoullas) was assigned to the Prison Department. However, he was using an office granted to him and not the office of the Director of Prisons. The offices of the previous Prison Directorate were opened by a three-member committee consisting of Prison officers, on 24/04/2023 and 08/06/2023 and as it was found, only furniture and office equipment, as well as three files of convicts, were found in them.
All five were arrested the day before yesterday and reported that they are not involved in the crimes under investigation. The investigator said that a total of 478 digital disks and USB cables were found concerning data from the closed circuit of prisons from June 2003 to May 2022, as well as recorded telephone conversations between defendants and convicts, etc. The investigator did not rule out the emergence of new data and new developments, implying arrests.
Intense cross-examination and questioning
During his cross-examination by the defense lawyers, the investigator mentioned that in some cases documents were transferred to the overtime duties of some of the arrested. The lawyers of the five suspects, Dimitris Pessiotis, Yiannis Polychronis, Alexandros Clerides and Giorgos Papaioannou, strongly disputed the testimony of the Police, stating that nothing was filed about what the bags they allegedly carried contained, to whom they were given and whether they are the ones found in the prison guard's house. They also referred to the fact that the authorities did not re-arrest the prison guard who was in possession of the documents, after the Court of Appeal released him for another case the day before yesterday, while they mentioned that among the offences under investigation there is one based on a law that has been repealed (it concerns the law on personal data). The defense lawyers also disputed the reports that the suspects can influence witnesses, since until the day before yesterday they were serving normally in prisons, that the main suspect was released, while as the prison guard's lawyer G. Papaioannou pointed out, the central figure in the testimony was the director and deputy director of the prisons.
Support from Athena
It is noted that the courtroom was filled with relatives, friends and members of the prison who came to support their colleagues. Among them was the then deputy director of the Prisons and now an executive of the Audit Service, Athena Demetriou.
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ELAM MEP Geadis Geadis and an expert police graphologist testified on Friday at the Nicosia Assize Court, in the trial of the German real estate agent, accused of usurping Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied areas.
The subject matter of the trial within the trial is the circumstances of the defendant's arrest at the airport, the language used and the circumstances under which she signed a consent form for search of her luggage.
Mr. Geadis was the person who sat next to the defendant on the plane from Frankfurt to Larnaca. According to his testimony, Mr. Geadis helped her to place her suitcase in the cupboards of the aircraft and then she sat in a seat next to him, introduced herself to him and told him that she works in real estate on the "Turkish side" in Cyprus.
"I asked her if this was illegal," he said, reading from his testimony, noting that the defendant did not answer him. "I suspected that it may be related to cases of usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied areas," Mr. Geadis continued. As he said, he knew that a police officer was boarding the plane. He approached him and told him about the conversation he had and he asked him if he could extract more evidence to investigate the suspicion.
"I kept talking to her. I told her that I was interested in a coastal investment on the 'Turkish' side. She gave me her mobile phone," he said, noting that at some point the officer in question came next to him and saw her.
To a question from the prosecution about the language in which they spoke, he replied in English, which he knows and uses as part of his work. Asked if the defendant understood the conversation, he replied positively, noting that the conversation lasted for quite a large part of the flight, which lasted 3.5-4 hours.
Mr. Geadis was asked what else they were discussing during these hours and answered about the food, about why she does not travel from the illegal airport of Tymbos. "She told me that because there are no direct flights, she chooses to come via Larnaca. I told her that I understand, because I work abroad and non-direct flights are difficult," he continued.
During the cross-examination of the witness, the defense counsel, Sotiris Argyrou, asked Mr. Geadis why he gave his testimony six months after the incident. The MEP replied that at that time "I was notified to give evidence", also noting that due to his position his schedule with trips abroad is very pressed.
Asked if he had realized the seriousness of the situation, he replied that it seems that "I realized the seriousness of the case, because from the first moment on the plane I moved to notify the police officers on the flight." However, he said he was waiting for the police to alert him to go to testify.
He also noted that during the discussion with her, he referred to the "Turkish side" and not to the occupied areas. "If I were referring to occupied areas, the suspect would have understood what I had perceived in relation to any buying and selling or usurpation in the occupied areas. If I didn't speak in 'its own language' and mention 'turkish side', 'turkish airport', I would raise suspicions," he said.
Mr. Argyrou called on the witness to repeat in court the dialogue he mentions in his testimony, in English. Mr. Geadis replied that according to the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, the official languages are Greek and Turkish, to which the Court replied that "you were asked about a matter of dispute, it is not a matter of the Constitution."
Mr. Geadis repeated in English part of the dialogue to which he had previously referred, with the Court intervening at the insistence of the defense counsel to repeat other phrases, recalling the issue of the trial within the trial.
Mr. Argyrou invited Mr. Geadis to present what degree he has in English. He replied that he studied computer science in English at Cyprus College and also has a degree in Political Science from the University of Cyprus, which he acknowledged that his degree was in English.
Asked if he has a diploma that shows his proficiency in English, Mr. Geadis replied "of course I have and I will tell you again that I work in the European Parliament".
Mr. Argyrou then submitted the position that "in no case did the defendant tell you that she worked as a real estate agent on the 'Turkish' side, as you mention in your testimony" and that the defendant does not know the English language beyond very basic words and "your position that for most of the 35-hour flight you were talking in English is false."
Mr. Geadis reiterated that she told him that she works in real estate on the "'Turkish side', as can be seen from the phone she gave me, in which she advertised relevant things in the occupied areas."
Mr. Argyrou also submitted the position that Mr. Geadis has real estate that he is interested in selling and that is why the real estate agent gave him her phone, with Mr. Geadis replying that he has no property, as well as that in the occupied areas "I am forbidden to pass, based on a decision of the pseudo-parliament, since we are considered a terrorist organization". He added that through his political action he knows a lot of people in Cyprus and among them "there will be several real estate agents. I would not be looking for a real estate agent who would randomly sit next to me on the flight to sell my land to the Republic of Cyprus via Germany," he said.
In response to a question by the defense counsel about what evidence he extracted during his discussion with the accused, the representative of the Prosecution, Anna Matthaiou, objected, noting that the question does not fall within the purpose of the trial within the trial. The Court upheld the objection.
A sergeant, head of the Police Graphology Laboratory, an expert in the forensic examination of writing and signature, was then called to testify, who submitted an expert report on the case.
It is recalled that in a previous trial, the defense disputed that in the written consent signed by the defendant to conduct a search of her luggage, she filled in the phrase "my travel laggage (gepack)" ("my travel luggage" in English with a spelling error in the word luggage and in parentheses in German), while the rest of the form was completed by her. For this purpose, samples were requested to be taken by a graphologist in order to examine the possibility of forgery.
According to the witness's testimony, on 16/4/2025 at the Nicosia Court, in the presence of lawyers of both sides and with the help of an interpreter, he received samples of the accused's writing and signature. The next day, she received evidence that had been filed with the Court about the case, including her notebook and other documents with handwritten notes found in her possession. On 25/4 he said that he received from the Legal Service from the Prosecution two testimonies of the accused in which there are handwritten points with her letters and which have not yet been submitted as evidence.
In an objection by the defense counsel, it was clarified that the defendant's testimonies will be accepted as evidence only for the purpose of comparing writing samples and not for their content.
According to the results of the comparison, as recorded by the witness in his expert report, the rest of the writing in the form in question, with the exception of the point in dispute, has a 'normal flow'. On the contrary, the disputed script presents "a slow flow rate with some stops and no letter unions except one".
She noted that after examining the material she collected for comparison, i.e. the documents found in her possession, the testimonies she had given and the samples taken for the purpose of the examination, she said that these show "substantial similarities" and "in my opinion they were made by the same person. As he said, the purpose of this comparison was, on the one hand, to ascertain that they come from the same person and, on the other hand, to gather a variety of different types of letters of the same person, in order to have as large a sample as possible for comparison with the text in question.
Comparing the disputed line with the writing from the samples, the witness said that "they have several similarities with each other but also some differences. The similarities are such that they create the belief that the above writing was made by her," he said.
The witness was then asked to describe in detail the methodology he followed and to substantiate his findings. The witness referred in detail to the process of collecting the samples and their justification based on the literature, as well as to the particularities of the case, with writing samples in English and German, as well as to the psychological state in which the accused was when she gave the samples. Subsequently, he presented relevant comparison tables that he prepared.
Asked if in his opinion the disputed phrase could have been written by a third person, the witness replied that "I am convinced that this writing was made by the author of the specific samples. It is not a possibility, I am convinced that it was done by this particular person", adding that "I take it for granted that the combination of these characteristics (which have been identified) cannot be produced by another".
At the next trial, on 2/6 at 9:00am, the witness will be cross-examined by the defense counsel. The detainee remains in custody. It is noted that the presumption of innocence applies to all the accused, until their guilt is proven by the court, beyond any reasonable doubt.
CNA
