Men fined after Nicosia brawl

A NICOSIA COURT found two men guilty yesterday of creating a public disturbance, following a brawl in 2004.

Jordanian national Feres Alsadek Hamzeh and Palestinian national Jihad Abdoi Samer had been charged by State Prosecutor Margarita Avraamidou of brawling and causing public affray after they were arrested back in March 2004 in central Nicosia.

Although admitting to brawling in public, Hamzeh denied that they had also attacked a police officer who had moved in to arrest them.

Samer, on the other hand, had denied the charge of brawling, saying he was attacked.

During the trial, Hamzeh had told the court that he had tried to stop of gang of Russians from attacking his friend Samer outside a bar in downtown Nicosia.

He added that at some point during the fight, he felt somebody grab his arm so he turned without looking properly and began punching the man in the chest and in the neck.

After noticing that it was a policeman he allegedly stopped and held out his arms so that he could be cuffed.

The arresting officer gave a different account of the story, telling the judge that both he and his partner had seen men fighting in the street and had moved in to stop them.

The officer claimed that as he moved in to arrest the defendant, he lashed out at him, shouting “I am afraid of no one” and began punching him around the face and body.

Ruling on the case yesterday, Judge Alexandros Panayiotou said that he had found the witness testimony from the prosecution and the arresting officer more “reliable” than the testimony of the two defendants.

“There had been three witness accounts pinning the first defendant (Hamzeh) to the attack of the policeman. The only one who was countering those claims from the three different witnesses was the defendant himself,” said the judge.

The judge then went on to fine both men £80 before imposing handing Hamzeh a three year suspended sentence for attacking the policeman.

A third man also involved in the brawl had previously pleaded guilty and was also fined £80.
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