THE DEFENCE lawyer of a former ambassador, accused of sexually harassing two of his secretaries, yesterday accused one of the plaintiffs of making up lies against his client because he had ended the affair he was having with her.
Costas Papadimas, who served as Cyprus’ Ambassador in Sweden from 2001 to 2005, has been charged with 26 counts of harassment and sexual harassment by the prosecution. He denies all charges.
Last Tuesday saw the calling of the first witness, one of the women alleging she was systematically harassed by the former ambassador between 2002 and 2005.
Greek national Alexandra Zioga, 35, on Tuesday told the panel of three judges how she had been “terrorised, disgraced and scared beyond words” by the defendant.
But her allegations were yesterday dismissed by defence lawyer Efstathios Efsthathiou, who accused Zioga of fabricating a tissue of lies against his client because he had ended a four-month relationship.
“If my client was attacking you, while you were in his office, then why didn’t you scream or shout out so people could rush in to your aid?” asked Efstathiou.
“I didn’t want to be ashamed should everyone have seen me,” replied Zioga. “I mean what would you have done?” she asked.
The petite woman responded furiously as Efstathiou’s accussed her of “falling in love with the Ambassador” and being “bitter with rage” after he had informed her “that he didn’t want to lose his wife and family”.
“Lies, lies, lies, lies,” shouted Zioga, waving her arms and shaking her head.
The witness then admitted to visiting the Ambassador’s home on a number of occasions both in Sweden and in Cyprus.
The court also heard how Papadimas’ wife, with whom Zioga claims she was good friends, had repeatedly threatened the secretary that she would report her to the Ministry if she didn’t stop having an affair with her husband.
Zioga denied being threatened by the wife, telling the court: “I wanted to keep quiet during all this time for his family’s sake. The last thing I ever told him was ‘I can look your children in the eye. Can you?’”
But Efstathiou presented to the court a teddy bear and set of wine glasses allegedly given to Papadimas by Zioga. She claimed she had given the wine glasses to the ambassador’s wife as a present, while adding she had “never seen that teddy bear before in my life”.
The trial continues today.
