Nicosia, Cyprus. The retrial of Giorgos Christodoulou, also known as “Zavrantonas”, moved forward on Tuesday after he pleaded not guilty to two charges related to the possession and trafficking of more than 15kg of cocaine. The Nicosia criminal court set June 29 and 30 for the hearing of the case on its merits.
Charges and plea
Appearing before the Nicosia criminal court, Christodoulou denied charges of possessing 15kg of cocaine with intent to supply. The offences are alleged to have been committed in Nicosia on January 16, 2019.
After the charges were read out by prosecutor Vasilis Bisas, Christodoulou responded “not guilty” to both counts.
Court decisions
The defence requested an early date for the continuation of proceedings, and the court scheduled the next hearings for June 29 and 30.
Earlier, the court dismissed as moot a defence request for access to documents relating to key prosecution witness Yiannis Andreou, known as “Maronas”. The court said the defence had received a copy of the witness’ request for a presidential pardon and had inspected the remaining relevant documents.
The court said the request had effectively been satisfied and that there was no issue requiring further examination or a ruling.
Defence action and custody
Defence lawyer Christos Poutziouris said he intends to file an application for the return of evidence submitted by the defence during the previous trial, which was later overturned by the appeals court.
The court ordered that Christodoulou remain in custody under the same conditions until the next hearing.
Background to the retrial
The case is being retried after the appeals court overturned Christodoulou’s previous conviction and 22-year prison sentence due to a miscarriage of justice linked to the composition of the criminal court.
During the original trial, defence allegations that the witness had received favourable treatment were rejected by the criminal court, partly because the legal service had at the time filed an appeal seeking an increase in his sentence.