Police have filed criminal charges against eight people connected to the central prison after thousands of documents, including some marked “confidential” or “secret”, were found at a senior guard’s home following seven months of investigation.
Police proceeded to file the case before Nicosia district court following instructions from the Law Office. Whilst the case was filed in a district court, the Law Office intends to request it be referred to a criminal court due to the offences in the indictment and the penalties they carry.
The eight people facing prosecution are former central prison director Anna Aristotelous, former deputy director Athina Dimitriou, five prison guards including the chief guard at whose home the documents were found, and a former prison guard now serving as a police officer.
The case was filed before Nicosia district court and the indictment is severe. Yesterday’s filing was not coincidental, as the suspension of four prison guards and one police officer expires around the end of the week and they would otherwise have had to return to their duties.
With the case now filed against them, their suspension will be requested until the trial concludes.
Aristotelous, whom the public service commission promoted to director general, is also on suspension. The cabinet is expected tomorrow to proceed with appointing newly appointed or promoted directors general, including Aristotelous.
Her appointment begins on 1 December, but her suspension expires around the end of November. However, yesterday’s development of filing criminal charges against her changes matters.
Either the presidency must request her suspension until the criminal proceedings conclude, or if that does not happen and 1 December passes, the cabinet itself will decide whether she must be placed on suspension until the judicial process is completed.
Regarding Dimitriou, who serves in the audit office, the auditor general has already been informed by police of the prosecution development, according to Phileleftheros sources, and his response is expected tomorrow on whether he will approach the public service commission.
Police gathered a massive volume of documents, statements and evidence relating to the case, which they handed to the Law Office for study.
Whilst a decision was pending, two prisoners complained in letters that they were approached by people to testify falsely incriminating Aristotelous.
Her lawyers requested the appointment of criminal investigators to examine the complaints, but the attorney general ruled these could be examined by investigators.
The thousands of documents were found at the chief guard’s home last April during an investigation into a counterfeit kiosk case at the prison.
The documents were located in two rooms of the residence and seized with a court warrant. This warrant was challenged at the supreme court, which ruled on 5 September that its issuance was justified.
Regarding the events, the supreme court said in its decision that during a search of the applicant’s home, beyond the evidence listed in the search warrant and sought by police, 48,430 documents consisting of 250,464 pages were found in two locked rooms—one on the ground floor and one on the first floor—and were seized.
All the seized documents were held illegally and without any authorisation by the applicant, it added.
The court also said the documents included architectural, topographical and spatial plans of the central prison in Nicosia, copies of convict files, documents on disciplinary investigations by the prisons department, internal letters, reports, notes, tables and lists concerning service matters of the prisons department.
The supreme court noted that it was further established that police documents and those of other government services were also held illegally and without any authorisation at his home. Several documents bore “Confidential” and “Secret” classifications.
The court said that beyond the documents, digital discs bearing handwritten notes with dates, computer diskettes, commemorative gifts and other items were also found and seized.
Police investigated offences that are included in the indictment filed today, including conspiracy to commit felonies, conspiracy to commit a misdemeanour, abuse of authority, breach of official confidentiality, offences under Article 26 (1) (e), (2) and (4) of the Processing of Personal Data (Protection of the Individual) Law of 2001 (138(I)/2001), theft by public officials, and offences under Article 19 (b) of the Security Rules for Classified Information, Documents and Material and Related Matters Law 84(I)/2021 and regulations, as well as illegal possession of property.
Kris Triantafyllides, lawyer for Aristotelous and Dimitriou, issued an immediate response in harsh language to the filing of charges against them.
In a statement, he speaks of “the final act of a serial cannibalism”, refers to the well-known case involving officer Michalis Katsounotos, and after stressing they have full confidence in justice, concludes by saying “if they want war, they will have it”.
Triantafyllides said his clients learnt from the media that a criminal case was filed against them regarding “the allegedly discovered documents found outside the central prison, a case with which both have no connection whatsoever”.
This is the final “act of a serial cannibalism” that began when the then director general of the central prison Aristotelous “dared” to complain that current deputy police chief Katsounotos had asked a convict to secure video concerning her personally “to burn her before she could go to another position”, he said.
After referring to their known complaints against Katsounotos and the attorney general’s decision not to prosecute him for reasons of public interest, the lawyer revives the complaints of two prisoners and the attorney general’s refusal to appoint a criminal investigator.
“Both Aristotelous and Dimitriou have absolute confidence in Cypriot justice and will ‘fight the battle’ so that at the end of this serial, the truth will shine. If they want war, they will have it,” the lawyer concludes.
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