Nicosia court allows revised charges in prisons documents case, raising alleged stolen items to 551
The Nicosia criminal court approved amended charges against eight defendants, lifting the number of allegedly stolen digital items from 421 to 551, as the defence contested a new police witness.
Nicosia, Cyprus. The Nicosia criminal court on Thursday accepted changes to the charges faced by eight defendants in the central prisons documents case, raising the number of digital items allegedly stolen from 421 to 551. The defence meanwhile opposed a prosecution request to put a police officer on its list of witnesses.
Amended charges
The changes affect the sixth and ninth charges. Under them, the defendants, who were public officials at the time, are accused of stealing state property belonging to the Prisons Department between October 2022 and April 2025.
The revised indictment states that the theft involved 551 items, among them optical discs, floppy disks and USB storage devices. These were allegedly taken out of the central prisons and brought to the home of the third defendant.
After the amendments, all eight defendants were charged again in formal terms and pleaded not guilty.
Prosecution position
Senior State Counsel Vasilis Bissas said the aim was to align the indictment with the evidence held by the prosecution. He explained that no extra evidence was being disclosed to the defence, and that the changes related to items holding digital material.
He argued that the proceedings were still at an early stage, so the defendants’ rights would not be harmed by the amendments.
Defence reaction
Lawyer Christos Triantafyllides, who represents the first defendant, former central prisons director Anna Aristotelous, did not oppose the amendments. He did, however, describe the way the prosecution had proceeded as an abuse of process.
The second defendant, former deputy director Athena Demetriou, objected. She argued that her rights were being violated and drew attention to repeated changes in the number of documents involved in the case.
The other defence lawyers made no objections.
Additional witness
The court is due to announce on November 3 whether the additional police officer may be added as a witness.
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