ATTORNEY-general Solon Nikitas will delay his resignation until the end of next week, according to reports yesterday. Nikitas announced his resignation on Thursday in protest to a Supreme Court decision acquitting former Health Minister Dina Akkelidou, who had been found guilty of interfering with the course of justice.
State radio reported yesterday that Nikitas intends to hand his resignation to President Tassos Papadopoulos by the end of next week, since he has a number of legal opinions to complete on important subjects.
The same report said Papadopoulos would appoint his successor once the official resignation was handed in.
Nikitas had initially intended to resign on October 31, but the unexpected acquittal of Akkelidou hastened his decision to step down from office.
Opposition DISY’s Vice-President Socratis Hasikos argued that his resignation and the reaction of government partner AKEL raised serious issues regarding the democratic principle of the separation of powers.
The former defence minister noted that Nikitas was treated as a political foe by the government and certain coalition partners over the criminal procedures launched against Akkelidou.
He referred to AKEL’s reaction to the Supreme Court decision as confirming the indirect but clear political undertones.
The left-wing party said it felt vindicated by the acquittal, adding that it provided justification of the President’s handling of the issue. Papadopoulos kept the minister in office until she had been convicted by the District Court.
Hasikos questioned whether the whole case could be seen as being one of vindication. “Is it an issue of AKEL and the President being good lawyers or one of the separation of powers, as the resigning Attorney-general mentions?” he asked.
The New Horizons, also a government partner, yesterday praised Nikitas for his decision “which showed rare courage and sensitivity for a person holding official office in this place”.
The party statement said the Akkelidou case was primarily a political issue, which should have been dealt as such but was not – neither by Akkelidou, AKEL nor the government.
“By his position, Mr Nikitas shows that he operates with independence and without interventions, something which, it seems, troubled the party-dominated public life in Cyprus,” they announced.
European Democrats leader Prodromos Prodromou noted that the Supreme Court decision may have vindicated Akkelidou from her criminal conviction but not from her political responsibility as former Health Minister, which cannot be decided in the courts.
He repeated the view of New Horizons that Akkelidou should have accepted that responsibility and resigned for meddling in the course of justice, regardless of her good intent in doing so.
He further charged AKEL with putting party interests and patriotism above the public interest by doggedly defending Akkelidou’s decision to stay in power during the trial against her.
Akkelidou was forced to resign late in November last year after a Nicosia district court sentenced her to a £1,000 fine for sending a letter to a district court judge seeking a lenient sentence for a drug suspect whose trial the judge was hearing.
She appealed against the decision soon afterwards and the Supreme Court plenum decided on Thursday, by majority vote to set aside the initial decision and acquit the former minister.
In an unprecedented move, the no-nonsense Attorney-general slammed the Supreme Court decision, which he described as “groundless” and lacking any legal support, and announced his resignation.
Nikitas said he was saddened by the decision, adding that there was no point for him to continue to hold the office of Attorney-general, “because, apart from what I have already said, this would conflict with my visions for justice and everything I did all these years with many dangers, for it to prevail”.
