Cyprus police have confirmed that they are investigating a complaint over an alleged breach of personal data linked to journalist and author Makarios Drousiotis and his book “Mafia State”.
Drousiotis said in a social media post that a second criminal investigation had been opened against him, four years after the book was published and two months after the Independent Authority Against Corruption submitted its findings.
“The masks are off. After my referral to the Criminal Court on charges of spreading false news over the ‘Sandy’ case, police have now opened a second criminal case against me over Mafia State!” he wrote.
Drousiotis also claimed that “the Police Headquarters Criminal Investigation Department, the same department that ‘investigated’ the Sandy case, asked to take statements even from the printer who printed the book, its editor and its designer”, describing this as an attempt to intimidate his associates.
“The tolerance shown by the political establishment and the journalistic community towards the criminalisation of investigative journalism has emboldened the corrupt system of power to the point where criminal investigations are now being conducted over books,” he added.
“We are now living in dark times. Every democratically minded citizen has a duty to react and the journalistic community must take a position. This is not an issue that concerns only me personally; it concerns society as a whole, freedom of expression, transparency, accountability and the rule of law, which is becoming an endangered species in Cyprus today,” he said.
Police confirm investigation
Police Headquarters Communications Branch officer Michalis Michael confirmed that the complaint concerns a possible breach of personal data.
He said the investigation is separate from the case concerning the findings of the Independent Authority Against Corruption, for which criminal investigators have been appointed.
Michael told the Cyprus News Agency that the complaint had been filed with the Police Headquarters Criminal Investigation Department, whose officers are handling the investigation.
He said the case remains at an early stage and that no further information could be provided at present in order to protect the investigation.
Asked whether people had already been called to give statements, Michael said the process was ongoing.
“The investigation process is indeed under way. It is obvious that some people have given statements,” he said, adding that because the case was still in its early stages, “we cannot say anything more”.
Asked what offence was being investigated, Michael said it concerned a breach of personal data.
“It has to do with a breach of personal data. That is what the complaint concerns. The complainant’s personal data are alleged to have been breached, and that is what is being investigated,” he said.
Michael added that the complaint had been filed relatively recently.
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