Drousiotis and Kyriakou due in Nicosia court over “Sandy” case

Nicosia, Cyprus. Makarios Drousiotis and Kyriaki Kyriakou are due to appear before the Nicosia district court on Wednesday in proceedings to refer the high-profile “Sandy” case directly to the Nicosia criminal court.

The hearing is scheduled for 8.30am and will be the defendants’ first court appearance following the completion of the police investigation and the filing of criminal proceedings by the Legal Service.

Charges and court proceedings

According to a Legal Service announcement issued on July 24, Attorney-General George Savvides decided to file criminal proceedings against two individuals after examining evidence submitted by police on June 30.

The charge sheet contains 101 counts relating to alleged forgery, circulating forged documents, publishing false news and harassment.

The case was filed before the Nicosia district court, and the charge sheets were subsequently served on the two defendants by the police headquarters’ criminal investigation department.

Wednesday’s proceedings are expected to address the referral of the case to the Nicosia criminal court for trial.

Background to the allegations

The case has attracted sustained public attention since Drousiotis, then a parliamentary candidate for Volt, published allegations in March involving judges, politicians and business figures.

The allegations concerned corruption, blackmail and the abuse of a minor, with those allegedly involved said to have operated under the name of a Rosicrucian Brotherhood.

Savvides subsequently filed a criminal case against Drousiotis and Kyriakou, also referred to as Sandy, with each facing 101 counts relating to the alleged preparation of forged documents, publication of false news and harassment.

Investigation findings

A joint investigation involving Europol and an FBI technical unit concluded in June that no testimony, forensic evidence or objective material supported the original allegations.

Police said forensic analysis of the disputed messages identified irregular timestamps and concluded that the messages were not genuine, but had been produced using an application capable of generating fabricated conversations.