Nicosia, Cyprus. Lawyer Chris Triantafyllides on Friday requested the appointment of an independent investigator to examine alleged offences committed against his client, former central prison director Anna Aristotelous. He said the matters raised had affected her rights and ability to mount a defense.
Request for independent investigation
Triantafyllides asked for an independent criminal investigator or investigators to look into possible offences committed against Aristotelous, naming assistant police chief Michael Katsounotos, as well as Maria Shaeli and Haris Herodotou. He argued the investigations could not be carried out by the police, saying this would risk bias.
References to public statements and material
Triantafyllides referred to statements by legal expert Achilleas Emilianides and to videos by social media personality Ioanna Photiou, known as ‘Annie Alexui’. He said Photiou held compromising material on people including Katsounotos, and said the justice system was under “unbearable pressure of objective questioning”.
Call to attorney-general and leave request
Triantafyllides called on attorney-general George Savvides to “preserve this stronghold” and demanded that Katsounotos, Shaeli and Herodotou be placed on leave during the investigation.
Earlier requests and witness statements
He said he had previously urged that an independent officer be appointed to conduct examinations, filing two similar requests to Savvides in October 2025 and warning of “serious concerns about fairness” if police continued leading the investigations. This followed an earlier letter criticising the Law Office’s decision to keep police oversight of the investigation.
In one letter to the attorney-general, Triantafyllides included statements from two former inmates alleging offences by senior officials, including Katsounotos, Shaeli and Herodotou. He argued that the probe must start from scratch, without any officers named in the witness statements taking part.
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