Legal service rejects requests to drop charges against five defendants in prison documents trial

Nicosia, Cyprus. The legal service has rejected requests to drop charges against five defendants in the central prisons documents trial, prosecution lawyer Vasilis Bissas told the Nicosia criminal court on Friday. Attorney-general George Savvides could still review the decision.

Requests to drop charges rejected

Bissas said the requests submitted by defendants four to eight had been turned down.

Eight defendants are on trial, all of whom have pleaded not guilty. They are former central prisons director Anna Aristotelous, her former deputy Athena Demetriou, five prison staff members and a former prison guard who is now a police officer.

They face nine shared charges, including conspiracy to commit a felony and theft of state property.

Dispute over witness material

Demetriou, the second defendant, told the court she had not received all the witness material. She cited gaps in investigators’ statements, search warrants and attachments, and said she believed the material had been withheld because it helped the defence.

Bissas said the witness material had been handed over when the case was sent to court. He said the legal service would immediately provide anything missing if the defence identified it.

He questioned why only Demetriou had raised the issue when the other defendants had received the material. Asked about the defence’s explanation for why it had not been handed over, he said it was “not relevant to this case”.

Next hearing

The trial resumes on October 29 at 9.30am.