Two neighbours arrested in connection with woman’s murder

TWO men have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Lyudmila Zipir, 34 from Ukraine, who was found dead in her apartment in Limassol on Sunday.

Zipir was found by police after her employer called concerned at her failure to turn up for work on Saturday and Sunday.

Police yesterday arrested Armen Grigorian, 25 from Armenia, and Dionysis Tokalides, 26 from Georgia, who lived next door to Zipir. They were taken to court yesterday and given an eight-day remand.

Zipir’s employer told police the victim had repeatedly complained that the two men used to harass her with sexual innuendoes. He had even visited the men on several occasions to ask them to leave her alone.

When police arrested the two suspects, they appeared to have scratches on their bodies as well as streaks of blood, believed to belong to the victim. Blood was also found in the apartment building.

Police noticed there had been no forced entry into the apartment via the front door, but that the balcony door connecting the victim’s apartment with that of the suspects was closed but not locked.

The suspects deny any involvement in the murder, but cannot give a clear story or confirm where they were at the time of the murder.

Zipir had lived in Cyprus for three years and worked in a bar in Limassol. Pathologist Panicos Stavrianos, said the girl’s bruised naked body was found on her bed in a pool of blood. He confirmed her death was criminal.

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.