Former Defence Minister dies

FORMER Defence Minister and District officer George Charalambides died on Monday night at a London hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He was aged 64.

Charalambides served at the district offices of Paphos and Limassol as well as the Ministries of Labour, Education and Interior and the Planning Bureau.

During the 1955-59 Eoka struggle for independence from British rule, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

He served for a brief period as Defence Minister from November 1997 to February 1998.

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.