The Larnaca Criminal Court has acquitted three Syrian men, aged 24, 25 and 27, of attempting to murder a 30-year-old compatriot who was shot and wounded in Kornos in January 2025.
The court found that the charges had not been proven, noting that the prosecution’s case rested on circumstantial evidence. It said the identity of the attackers remains unknown.
The three men had been arrested after being linked, it was announced at the time, to two vehicles allegedly used in the attack. One of the vehicles was found abandoned in Alethriko.
“On the basis of the prosecution’s original account, the admissible evidence it presented, and our final findings, Defendants 1, 2 and 3 were not occupants of the perpetrators’ vehicle,” the ruling said, referring to the men by their numbering in the case. It added that “no safe conclusion can be reached” that the three had acted as accomplices of the attackers with the aim of killing the 30-year-old.
The prosecution “did not even attempt” to place the third defendant at the crime scene, or even in the wider area of Kornos on the day of the shooting, the ruling said. Nor did it link him in any way to the perpetrators.
The 30-year-old had travelled from Paphos to meet someone he did not know who wanted to buy his car, according to his statement. He was shot on the afternoon of January 9 in front of members of the public, but managed to get away and went to a private clinic in Limassol.
The three faced six charges: conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, possessing and carrying a firearm, and possessing and transporting explosives. All three pleaded not guilty. The first defendant said he was at work on the day of the shooting, while the other two said they had nothing to do with the offences.
The first defendant represented himself. Evangelia Lazaridou and G. Michaelidou represented the other two.
