Nicosia, Cyprus. Ousted judge Doria Varoshiotou said she filed an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights over the termination of her services, which she claims was linked to her stance on the death of conscript Thanasis Nicolaou.
ECtHR appeal and statements
Varoshiotou said on Tuesday that she filed the appeal on Monday. In a statement, she said she felt “particular satisfaction” that she refused to change her conclusion in the Thanasis Nicolaou case.
Thanasis Nicolaou inquest ruling
Varoshiotou ruled that Nicolaou, who died in 2005, had been strangled, overturning a finding of suicide 19 years after his death and following a long campaign by his mother, Andriana Nicolaou.
Supreme Court decision on dismissal
On February 6, the Supreme Court rejected Varoshiotou’s appeal against her dismissal in a five-to-three ruling, upholding the supreme judicial council’s decision to relieve her of her duties.
Claims about instructions and subsequent meeting
Varoshiotou said the majority decision confirmed that her dismissal stemmed from her ruling of May 10, 2024, which she said she “refused to change after instructions received from the administrative president of the Limassol district court on May 13, 2024”. She added that on June 28, 2024, she was rebuked by the president and a judge of the Supreme Court during a private meeting.
Investigators’ findings and public interest reasoning
Varoshiotou said the Supreme Court “ratified the findings for ‘public interest’ reasons” and incorporated the conclusions of criminal investigators into its ruling on the cause of death. She said the investigators reached the same conclusion as she did and pointed to potential perpetrators with criminal liability.
Concerns over overlap in decision-making
Varoshiotou said that the judges who ratified the investigators’ findings were also members of the Supreme Judicial Council that later decided to terminate her services, citing alleged “errors”.
Background of reopened inquest
Varoshiotou said she would not go into further detail but noted that the inquest had been reopened after the ECtHR ruled against the Republic of Cyprus, highlighting the need to exhume the remains to investigate alternative causes of death.
What do you think Varoshiotou’s ECtHR appeal could mean for oversight of judicial dismissals in Cyprus?