Nicosia, Cyprus. The Nicosia criminal court on Tuesday said it would not rule on the admissibility of evidence in the case concerning classified documents stolen from the central prison until the prosecution explains why material was not provided to the defence.
The hearing was adjourned until Friday for both sides to state their positions, with the court saying its decision would be issued later.
Documents provided to defence
On May 5, prosecutors in the case involving missing central prison files provided the defence with 1,116 of the 2,900 documents in total.
The court identified three matters requiring clarification from the prosecution.
Issues raised by the court
The first concerned a reference by prosecutor Anna Mattheou to five documents that had been submitted to the defence. She later said there had been objections to handing over some of them.
The second concerned documents covered by attorney-client privilege that were not included in the indictment. The court requested clarification on whether they contained material related to the charges.
The third concerned the prosecution’s position that the defence was not required to disclose its line of defence but should indicate how it would be affected if the documents were not provided in full.
Positions of the parties
The prosecution requested time to present its position.
Defence lawyer Christos Triantafyllides said he would present his position after hearing the prosecution’s submissions. Lawyers representing the other defendants agreed.
Triantafyllides also raised reservations about the further delay, noting that his client remained suspended.