Τhe Attorney General has appointed an independent criminal investigator to probe the death of a 24-year-old Pakistani man who was found dead near Acropolis on Epiphany evening, hours after being shot by police in Potamia.
Senior lawyer Ninos Kekkos will oversee the investigation, while the Council of Ministers has ordered a separate probe into potential misconduct by medical examiner Nicolas Charalambous.
Forensic examination of the police vehicle found no traces linking them to the deceased. It remains unclear if the the victim’s companions transported and abandoned him at the location where his body was discovered one hour after the shooting.
The incident began when three members of the Anti-Poaching Unit responded to reports of smuggling and illegal migrant trafficking in Potamia around 8 p.m.
Officers say they fired four shots at two vehicles, including one unregistered car and another with occupied Cyprus number plates, after the vehicles allegedly moved towards them. One vehicle struck a police car before fleeing the scene.
Charalambous initially attributed a small wound in the victim’s shoulder blade to a stone and ruled out foul play.
The gunshot wound was only confirmed during an autopsy conducted four days later. Ballistic tests subsequently matched the bullet to a police service weapon.
The Agricultural Ministry’s Director General Andreas Gregoriou will lead the investigation into the medical examiner’s actions.
The killing has sparked outrage and condemnation by political parties and social groups about police’s handling of migration.
In April 2024, Anisur Rahman, a young Bangladeshi worker jumped to his death in Limassol to escape a migrant raid by authorities.
The police killings of migrants come in the backdrop of multiple attacks against migrant delivery workers across Cyprus, raising concerns about increasing racism and intolerance in local society.
In August and September 2023, far-right groups organised repeated attacks against migrants and migrant-owned businesses in Paphos and Limassol.
