MMAD officer charged over beating of immigrants

By Charlie Charalambous

MMAD deputy commander Charalambos Mavros was yesterday charged with dereliction of duty in connection with last October’s beating of 48 African boat people.

Mavros was brought before a Larnaca district court and charged yesterday morning. He pleaded not guilty. The hearing was adjourned until June 18.

Although television footage showed riot clad members of the rapid reaction force beating defenceless and fallen detainees in quelling a disturbance at Larnaca police holding cells last year, no other member of MMAD is being prosecuted.

Attorney-general Alecos Markides ruled following an investigation that Mavros should carry the can, as he headed the operation and his officers could not be identified.

Several of the immigrants needed hospital treatment after being attacked with batons and tear gas in an operation which shocked ministers watched on television.

Following the October 23 incident, Markides appointed six criminal prosecutors to look into the beatings, which sparked widespread public outrage.

Their findings concluded that unnecessary force was used to control the disturbance, but Markides said that, without identifying the individuals concerned, the charge of collective responsibility could not be brought.

The 40-odd Africans had been among 113 boat people rescued sick and starving from the Ridallah Syrian fishing trawler last June and initially taken to the Pefkos hotel in Limassol.

Last August, the Africans, mainly single Nigerian males, were transferred to the Larnaca cells following riots outside the Limassol hotel.

Most of the Africans have since been deported, but a few remain in Cyprus to testify in Mavros’ trial. The government paid them a total of £10,000 in compensation for the injuries sustained.

Mavros faces a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment if convicted of the charge.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.