By Stefanos Evripidou
GOVERNMENT Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said yesterday the Cabinet would put on hold its decision to change Cyprus’ antiquated law on evidence until hearing the advice of new Attorney-general Solon Nikitas.
Before coming to office, Nikitas was among the majority of Supreme Court members who opposed modifications to the Cyprus law, which would bring it in line with laws on evidence in operation in most European countries.
Former Attorney-general Alecos Markides has long campaigned for a change in the century-old system, arguing it provides too many obstacles to state prosecutors wishing to submit evidence to prove their case. Britain, from which Cyprus’ laws originate, is the only country in Europe which has not adopted the continental practice on laws on evidence. However, Britain has since updated and modified its laws on evidence substantially to keep up with the needs of a contemporary judiciary and legal service. Cyprus has not.
Many prominent lawyers on the island have argued the system needs changing to avoid cases where defendants are acquitted or wrongly accused, not because of lack of evidence but because strict laws meant the evidence was not permissible in court.
Chrysostomides insisted yesterday that the government had the political will to move ahead with modernisation of the law in order to harmonise with the various EU directives. Regarding the laws on evidence, he said: “The matter has not been discussed in Cabinet but as you know the government has the intention to modernise various legal provisions in order to meet the demands of the contemporary path of Europe.”
“The position of the former Attorney-general was that, without a doubt, we had to move towards modernising the law of evidence to fill in the gaps not covered by the current law of evidence so that a trial – especially criminal proceedings – could continue with ease rather than with difficulties, objections and dismissals,” he added.
He went on to say the new Attorney-general had now been given the task to evaluate the legislative proposals and advise the government.
Asked whether Nikitas’ former objections to changes in the law of evidence would affect his opinion, the Government Spokesman replied: “Regardless of what position he previously adopted, under his new title he will look at the situation through the lens of an Attorney-general. This is about legislation which, after discussion with Nikitas, will either be passed on to parliament or withdrawn.”
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Lazaros Savvides, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that his ministry had been given instructions by the new government, as soon as it came into office, to make small changes to the new law of evidence proposed by the previous government, and submit it to parliament. He said the ministry had not been told to wait for an opinion from the new Attorney-general and as such would continue the process of bringing it before parliament.
The changes provided that hearsay evidence would be permissible in court for civil proceedings and also in criminal proceedings, but only for cases regarding the Stock Exchange.
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.
