With the court rejecting both previous and new pretrial motions and all five defendants pleading not guilty to the charges, proceedings continued today, the proceedings related to the private criminal charges filed by the family of Thanasis Nikolaou, which will enter the hearing phase in November.
The indictment includes medical examiner Panikos Stavrianos, former Limassol Police Director Andreas Iatrou, former head of the Limassol Traffic Police Nikos Sophocleous, former head of the Rural Police Christakis Nathanail, and former head of the Platres police station complex, Christakis Kapiliotis. The charges they face include offenses such as conspiracy to obstruct justice, dereliction of duty, issuance of a false certificate by a public official, perjury, providing false information, destruction of evidence, and interference with judicial proceedings.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Initially, the court announced that it was dismissing the preliminary objections raised during the previous proceedings, while the fifth defendant, Christakis Kapiliotis, who is not represented by legal counsel, raised the issue of the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case, arguing that the charges against him involve potential disciplinary offenses rather than criminal offenses.
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At the same time, he read a written statement and submitted, as evidence, a USB drive containing two videos of interviews with Attorney General George Savvidis on television stations, to substantiate the claim that the Legal Service did not proceed with criminal prosecutions against the medical examiner and the four former police officers.
The defense attorneys also raised the issue of misleading the court in the event that, at the time the indictment was filed, the prosecuting authority failed to submit a relevant letter from the Attorney General to the family’s attorney regarding the decision not to pursue criminal charges.
After a recess, the court decided to dismiss the new objections as well, while all the defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.
The court set the start of the trial for November 10 (10:30 a.m.), while also consecutive trial dates on November 11, 12, and 13, as well as on November 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27.
Source: CNA
