Pafos Live 10 March 2026
The presence and action of the Police last night was intense, throughout Cyprus, with organized patrols in key points of urban areas, with the aim of preventing serious criminal acts, ensuring public order and increasing the sense of security of the public.
As part of these operations, the Police proceeded to arrest two persons. Specifically, one person was arrested for the flagrante delicto offense of possession of burglary tools and one person for the flagrante delicto offense of illegal stay in the territory of the Republic.
Also, during the night, 292 vehicles were stopped for inspection and 384 persons on board were checked. At the same time, 27 inspections of premises were carried out, with the aim of dealing with phenomena of delinquency, from which five complaints emerged.
During traffic inspections, 308 complaints were made, concerning various traffic violations, while 17 investigated cases of traffic violations also emerged. As part of the police examinations, ten vehicles were detained.
Of the complaints made about traffic violations, the 134 complaints of vehicle drivers for exceeding the speed limit stand out. Also, two drivers were found positive in a preliminary test for driving under the influence of drugs and one driver was reported for driving under the influence of alcohol. For driving under the influence of alcohol, 65 vehicle driver checks were carried out.
Coordinated policing operations, for the prevention and suppression of crime, continue daily, with enhanced police presence, targeted controls and immediate operational action, in order to protect citizens and ensure public order.
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Both the criminal investigator and their lawyer waited in vain for the key witness in a criminal investigation for a rape case to testify about the possible responsibilities of prison members. After many attempts to locate him, it appeared that he had been arrested by the Police as a suspect in a criminal case.
This is the case of rape of a convict in the Central Prison, for which two persons, one convict and one released from prison, are already accused before the Nicosia Criminal Court for a very serious case concerning conspiracy to commit a felony, in violation of article 371 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 154 and rape, in violation of article 144 of the Criminal Code, Chap. 154 as amended, while both are accused of sexually abusing their cellmate on August 15 and 16, 2025, in their cell in the Central Prison.
In addition to this case, the complainant's lawyer Leto Kariolou had denounced in her letters to the Attorney General, possible negligence on the part of the Prisons in immediately investigating his complaint and his request for a change of cell. Attorney General Giorgos Savvidis decided to appoint two criminal investigators to examine the circumstances and instructions made after his report of abuse. One of the criminal investigators was the president of the Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police, Andreas Paschalidis, and the other, the former Agamena Police officer Dimitriou, who then requested and was exempted.
Mr. Paschalidis began the investigation into what the complainant's lawyer had said and called him to testify. According to information from "F", efforts were made for him to come and testify and in one case while he came to give a statement, his lawyer asked to be present via video conference, however technical problems occurred and it was cancelled.
Last week, a new appointment was arranged to take a statement from the complainant in the presence of his lawyer, however he did not appear. Despite the efforts of his lawyer, he was not located and so the meeting was cancelled. Subsequently, after several actions, there was information that he had been arrested by the Police along with another person and the investigations were being carried out by the Latsia police station. Following this development, the criminal investigator asked the Attorney General for instructions on how to proceed with the investigation of the case, provided that the main witness has not yet testified.
It is noted that the initial investigation into the rape complaint changed three departments, due to complaints from his lawyer. Initially, the investigation was undertaken by the Nicosia Police Department, then by a special department at the Police Headquarters and then by another investigator.
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The eight defendants in the case of the theft of thousands of documents from the Central Prison responded to all charges.
At the same time, they raise the issue of unfair trial and abuse of procedure with the Criminal Court of Nicosia setting the case for March 26 for speeches for the preliminary objection.
Today, during the proceedings, it was possible to bring charges against the eight after the representative of the prosecution informed the court that today all the witness material was handed over to the defense in electronic form.
The defense was not given the documents that are considered confidential, but which they may inspect at the Police Headquarters.
The defendants face nine common charges involving the theft of 48,432 documents, usbs, floppy disks and other electronic devices. The former director of the Prisons, Anna Aristotelous, is also accused of allowing classified documents to be leaked while she was the director of the Prisons.
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The curtain opened yesterday on the trial of the unprecedented case that shocked Cypriot society in October 2020 (13/10/2020), when eight patients suffered blindness due to complications in cataract surgery, which they underwent in a private hospital in Nicosia.
The hearing began with the testimony of the first prosecution witness. He is a member of the investigative team that investigated the case. Two ophthalmologists who are in their sixth decade of age and are facing eight charges, for each patient, related to the offense of reckless negligent acts in violation of articles 236(e), 20 and 35 of the penal code.
A large part of yesterday's proceedings was spent on the request of the defense attorney of the accused, Marios Spyrou, to forward to him a communication that the head of the Nicosia TAE team that investigated the case had with the Legal Service.
Mr. Spyrou said that this communication can play a role in his defense line. "We want the Police to know for whom it was recommended that they be prosecuted," said the lawyer of the accused, among other things, wanting to indicate how evidence can emerge, which he can add to the defense.
It should be noted that this request of the lawyer arose during the cross-examination he made to the witness. Consequently, he had not submitted any written request. The representative of the prosecution, Elena Konstantinou, countered that the private communication in question between investigators and the Attorney General does not constitute witness material, raising the question of whether the revelation of the written understanding between the two sides may have substance.
The District Judge of Nicosia, Pavlos Agapitos, after first interrupting the process for the two sides to come to an understanding and having previously heard their positions, concluded that he rejected the request, based on a book by Mr. Santis, but also on case law he invoked. It left an open window for such a request to be considered in the future if it is submitted in writing and on the basis of legal arguments.
It should be noted that, as the witness stated during her cross-examination by Marios Spyrou, her role in relation to the investigative work was auxiliary and she acted within the framework of orders given to her.
Mrs. Spyrou submitted, among other things, that the private hospital was responsible for the place where the operation was performed. When asked where the bacterium "pseudomonas aeruginosa" came from, the police officer replied: "I think from consumables."
The case was also monitored by lawyers of the patients and their families, who have filed a civil lawsuit for compensation.
As we noted, the charges against the doctors concern eight persons. We record one of the details of the offense for which they are accused, in order to give the picture of the form of the charges: "The accused, on October 13, 2020, in Nicosia in ... Private Hospital, while they were Ophthalmologists, in such a recklessly hasty or negligent way, as to endanger human life or be likely to cause bodily harm to another, they carried out medical or surgical treatment in the ... from Nicosia, during which they used eye drops, serum, cartridges and other consumables which were disposable, as a result of which the above patient was infected with the multi-resistant strain pseudomonas aeruginosa and lost the vision of his left eye".
