A 25-year-old man was sentenced to two consecutive life terms on Tuesday after admitting the premeditated murders of Andreas Kouzoupis and 38-year-old Slovak national David Chmelar in the Arakapas double murder case.
The Limassol Criminal Court imposed the sentence on June 9, after the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of premeditated murder, the only offence under the Criminal Code that carries mandatory life imprisonment.
The two victims were found burnt inside a vehicle on July 30, 2024, on a dirt road in the Listrovounos area of Limassol district, after they had been shot dead with a hunting shotgun.
In a unanimous decision, the court imposed consecutive life terms, rather than concurrent sentences. The decision departs from the usual practice of simultaneous life terms and affects any future examination of a possible request for conditional release.
The court referred in its decision to the triple murder case involving Christakis Thomas, known as “Lokadjis” (commando), in which the Court of Appeal had imposed consecutive life sentences.
The Criminal Court found that the defendant acted in a way that took the lives of two people and showed complete disregard for the supreme value of human life.
On Monday, the defendant’s lawyer submitted written arguments focusing on whether the sentences should run consecutively.
At a previous hearing on May 29, the prosecution, represented by Senior Counsel of the Republic Andreas Aristeidou, presented the facts of the case and clarified that the 25-year-old was not the person who handled the shotgun used to kill the victims.
The court was told that, after sentencing, the 25-year-old is expected to testify as a prosecution witness against his co-defendant, who continues to deny the charges.
According to the facts of the case, after 11pm on July 30, 2024, the 25-year-old and another person drove to the area of the water tank in Arakapas, Limassol district, carrying a hunting shotgun.
At around 11.30pm, Kouzoupis and Chmelar arrived at the same location after prior arrangement with the other person. Chmelar was driving the vehicle in which the two victims were travelling.
During the meeting, the 25-year-old and the other person, acting together, murdered Kouzoupis and Chmelar.
As had been premeditated, the two victims were shot repeatedly in the head with a hunting shotgun. The prosecution clarified that the 25-year-old was not the person who handled the weapon during the killings.
The vehicle containing the victims’ bodies was then moved by the 25-year-old and the other person to the Listrovounos area of Limassol district.
There, they pushed it onto a downhill dirt side road off the Parekklisia-Kellaki road, where it hit a tree and stopped.
They then obtained petrol and set fire to the vehicle, destroying it completely and burning the victims’ bodies.
The 25-year-old was arrested on August 1, 2024, at 8.45pm, after police executed a court arrest warrant issued against him.
