Avakoum monastery fraud trial hears challenges to former monk’s testimony
Defence lawyers challenged a former monk’s claims of mistreatment at Avakoum monastery during the alleged fraud trial.
Askas, Cyprus. The trial over alleged fraud at Avakoum monastery continued on Wednesday, with defence lawyers challenging a former monk’s testimony that he was mistreated during his time there.
Photographs and video presented
The witness had testified that he worked gruelling hours, had his documents confiscated and was denied contact with his family.
One photograph showed him building a snowman with another monk. Another, taken during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, showed him holding a camera which he said his superior had allowed him to have after he asked for a “way to keep memories”, as he did not have a mobile phone.
A video recorded in the monastery’s confectionery workshop in Askas showed the witness and other monks preparing sweets while Christmas music played in the background.
The witness did not dispute that the images and video were genuine, but maintained his account of mistreatment.
Working conditions and access to devices
He said the workshop footage was consistent with his description of shifts that continued into the early hours.
The witness also said that occasional permission, including being allowed to have a camera, did not mean he was treated equally with monks who had phones or computers.
Receipts and personal documents
Defence lawyers also questioned him about money and paperwork after he testified that there were no receipts for goods sold at the monastery.
Defence counsel Kostis Efstathiou said receipt books existed and were being used. The witness said he had never seen one, explaining that he spent most of his time in the workshop rather than on the shop floor.
He rejected suggestions that he had lied about when his identity card was due to expire, saying one of the defendants had kept his personal documents throughout his time at the monastery.
Fainting episode
Asked about a fainting episode described in earlier testimony, the witness said it resulted from both exhaustion caused by overwork and a gas leak that led to carbon dioxide inhalation.
The defence suggested that he had shaped the explanation to fit his case.
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