TWO well-known musicians were yesterday formally charged with sexually assaulting underage girls.
Musician Georgos Serdaris, 65, and 52-year-old composer Doros Georgiades, both from Larnaca were arrested last month after two women testified that they had been sexually assaulted by the two men nine years ago, when they were aged12 and 13.
As the investigation progressed, more girls came forward with similar stories.
The girls, who wanted to become singers, went to the two men for private tutoring. They claimed the suspects sexually abused them, promising to make them famous.
In a hearing held behind closed doors, the two suspects were yesterday charged with 25 counts of sexual assault against minors. They were then released on bail pending trial.
The court ruled the hearing should be carried out behind closed doors to protect the women who had testified against the two suspects.
Georgiades’ lawyer Demetrakis Papachrysostomou had objected to the hearing being closed, arguing that publicity was the right of the accused and helped protect them.
The court recessed for 90 minutes to decide on the issue.
Judge Lemonia Kaoudjani said it was the defence’s constitutional right to object, but stressed that his arguments had been insufficient.
The constitution, she said, provided for special circumstances wherever the rights of minors could be affected.
In this case, if the hearing was open then the minors’ names, addresses as well as the nature of the offence allegedly perpetrated against them would be in the public domain.
The judge ruled that the procedure should be closed and banned publication of any information from the case file without the court’s permission.
Any information concerning the case would be issued by the court, Kaoudjiani said.
The court referred the suspects to the Assizes court, which will convene on September 10.
Serdaris will face 17 charges concerning seduction and sexual assault and Georgiades eight charges of the same nature.
The court released the suspects on bail and ordered them to appear once daily at the nearest police station.
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