Markides appeals Aeroporos acquittal

By Martin Hellicar

THE ATTORNEY-general yesterday lodged an eleventh hour appeal to the Supreme Court against an Assizes court decision to acquit three Aeroporos brothers of attempted murder charges.

Alecos Markides, who considers the Assizes decision wrong, was able to make the appeal thanks to a bill passed by the House plenum on Thursday afternoon.

The bill empowers the Attorney-general to appeal against the acquittal of suspects by the Assizes court – provided this is done within 14 days of the original decision. As the Aeroporos brothers Hambis, 35, Andros, 30, and Panicos, 25, were acquitted on June 19, yesterday was the last possible day for an appeal under the new legislation.

Efstathios Efstathiou, the lawyer who secured the acquittal, questioned the legitimacy of the appeal yesterday, saying he did not believe the new legislation could be applied retroactively to the Aeroporos case.

Efstathiou said he would challenge the retroactive applicability and constitutionality of the new law before the Supreme Court during the appeal hearing. The high-profile lawyer has already crossed swords with Markides over the latter’s criticism of the acquittal.

Efstathiou also criticised the House for passing the law, saying this had only been done to allow Markides to challenge the Aeroporos decision. “It would be good if laws like the one passed yesterday were not voted in for a particular case,” he said.

But Markides was reticent to get into another show-down with Efstathiou yesterday.

“A law has been passed, an appeal has been lodged and I am not prepared to try the issue by media,” he told CyBC radio.

“There will be legal arguments before the Supreme Court on all issues,” he said. “If an issue of constitutionality, or whether the law can be applied in this case is brought up, then this will also be discussed before the Supreme Court, which has the final say,” he said.

The Assizes acquitted the Aeroporos trio of involvement in the shooting of gambling club owner Antonis Fanieros in Larnaca on May 29 last year after dismissing the testimony of chief Prosecution witness Tassos Simellides.

Twenty-eight-year-old Simellides, who is serving a nine-year sentence for acting as get-away driver for the hit, had named Hambis as instigator, Andros as architect and Panicos as hit-man for the machine-gun attack.

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