By Jean Christou
MURDERED Greek Cypriot Stelios Charpas died from severe head injuries as a result of gunshot wounds, autopsy results confirmed yesterday.Diko deputy Marios Matsakis, who represented the Charpas family, told the Cyprus Mailthat the results of the post mortem, which he carried out with state pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous, concurred with the findings of the Turkish Cypriot side.Two UN medics were also present at the hospital as observers.The autopsy took place shortly after midday yesterday at Nicosia General Hospital after Charpas’ remains were transferred by the UN from the occupied areas.Charpas was found dead in his burned out car on Tuesday night, one kilometre from his village of Rizokarpasso. An autopsy was carried out by the Turkish side on Thursday.The UN report on the case was expected to be handed to the government later yesterday.According to reports, the body sustained 80 per cent burns.”It was the first time in Cyprus that I have come across an attempt to conceal a murder by burning the body,” Matsakis told the Cyprus Mail.There were scenes of grief and anger at the Ledra Palace yesterday when the UN ambulance crossed the checkpoint and Matsakis issued an official death certificate.Charpas’ wife Yiannoula had arrived from the north earlier, meeting her children and other relatives.Turkish Cypriot journalists who arrived to visit the damaged Hala Sultan Tekke mosque were kept apart from the family as a precaution.Former enclaved teacher Eleni Foka, who has not been allowed to return to the north for over a year, also went to the checkpoint in a show of support.Criticising the Turkish Cypriot authorities, she said: “The enclaved can live only when they don’t speak.”Charpas is the 27th Greek Cypriot to be murdered in the north since 1974.Turkish Cypriot press reports said yesterday that two 9mm bullets had been removed form Charpas’ head during the autopsy in the north.Three Turkish Cypriots have been arrested and remanded in custody for four days in connection with the murder.One of them is said to have been the last person to speak to Charpas.Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said he hoped the crime has now been solved and promised the guilty would be brought to justice.He said it was a criminal not a political act, and that it would be a waste of time to class it as such.Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday Denktash’s comments had been taken into account, but nevertheless called for more protection for the enclaved.There are some 500 Greek Cypriots, mostly elderly, living in the Karpass.”What is especially important, and what counts on our side, is the practical giving of security to the enclaved by the invasion authorities,” Papapetrou said.He said the government was willing to accept that the murder may not have been politically motivated or designed to prompt the enclaved to leave the north.”But we still expect protection for them,” he said referring to a request for UN soldiers to be stationed at the village of Ayia Triada.”There have repeatedly been steps taken, and in a very specific way, including a government demand for such a thing,” he said. “Unfortunately the Turkish side has been completely negative on this specific demand until today and as a result it has not happened.”Papapetrou said the murder should not be allowed to affect negotiations on the Cyprus problem.
