Filenews 4 October 2025 - by Fanis Makridis
An obvious effort by the leadership of the Cyprus Police in order to improve to the maximum extent the way police examinations are conducted in cases of sudden/unnatural deaths, which may have resulted from criminal acts.
Specifically, police order 3/25 entitled "Death investigations – Investigation of Sudden/Unnatural deaths" within three months has been amended twice. One last June and once in September.
As far as the substance is concerned, it is discernible that it is now regulated with a clear reference who has the first and last word to investigate the causes of the cause of death. In the sub-chapter where the protocol of actions for the investigation of sudden and unnatural deaths is recorded, an addition was made last September that clarifies that the investigator/examiner of the Police has the absolute responsibility regarding the investigation of sudden deaths.
In particular, the following paragraph has been added, which we quote in full: "It is further understood that the investigation into the causes of death is the responsibility of the Police and not of the Medical Examiner, who is called to provide support to the work of the Police".
The case of Potamia
The issue in question, in terms of the degree of responsibility of the medical examiners, was at the center of public discussions last January, when a 24-year-old man from Pakistan was shot by a police officer after a serious incident in the buffer zone and at a point near Potamia.
The shooting incident took place on January 6 (2025), while a few hours later the body of the young man was found in an area in the center of Nicosia. From the examinations that were carried out at the scene at the time, it was not realized that the 24-year-old died from the shot fired in Potamia a few hours earlier. The bullet had no exit point and the medical examiner Nikolas Charalambous during the autopsy had not noticed the entry point (testimonies state that there was a stone in the wound, which was cleaned).
Finally, the medical examiner himself during the autopsy four days later immediately identified the cause of death and notified the investigators. The Attorney General appointed the Republic's senior lawyer, Nino Kekkos, as an independent criminal investigator to head the investigations.
Mr. Kekkos concluded that no criminal or disciplinary responsibilities arise against police officers or a medical examiner on the basis of the facts surrounding the whole case. But what is important is that on the occasion of these developments, there has been a lot of discussion about who should have the final say in order to decide whether the death is due to a criminal act or not.
Investigator or Head
The effort to improve the way of investigating incidents of sudden/unnatural deaths is also discernible through another change made to the relevant police order of last September. Based on what was in force in cases of suspicion of a criminal act, the TAE photographer who went to the scene where there was a dead person was in charge of informing the medical examiner about the circumstances, in case it was deemed necessary for the latter to go to the scene. In the amended police provision, this role is assigned to an "investigator or chief officer".
Thanasis case
In addition, the investigator is now called upon - based on the changes - to request that the body be X-rayed "when there are multiple injuries or fractures or when the death was caused by a gunshot".
From the new police order of September, the following provision was deleted: "In cases where the death occurred after a fall from a height, the transfer of the medical examiner to the scene may not be necessary."
However, the two aforementioned points, i.e., the x-ray of the body and the fall from a height, had been raised in some cases by those who dealt with the conditions under which Thanasis Nikolaou lost his life.
Apesisiotis' positions
"F" asked for a comment from the lawyer Dimitris Apaisiotis, who had also served in the Police serving the Corps and as an investigator of the Nicosia Police Department.
Referring to the amendment by which the investigator or chief officer is designated as competent to communicate with the medical examiner, he commented: "The fact that before the amendment of this police provision the photographer was obliged instead of the investigator to inform the medical examiner, was incompatible. The investigator has the first say, in cases of sudden death. Whether he will distribute tasks to other members of the Police is understandable, but any updates he must make himself."
He also commented positively on the addition that imposes the x-ray of the body: "We have entered a new century, that of technology and it is regressive that it is not used to investigate causes of death."
Finally, Mr. Apaisiotis suggests that the call of a medical examiner should be required in cases of falls from a height. More specifically, referring to the elimination of this provision, he told us: "The purpose is for a proper investigation to be carried out from the beginning and for the investigator to have all the help he can have from a medical examiner."
