TWO DAYS after he escaped from the Nicosia central prison, a convicted killer was yesterday being held in the custody of the Turkish Cypriot authorities.
Turkish Cypriot Panayiotis Netzadi, 33, had managed to escape from a high-security wing along with 28-year-old Odysseas Kalanides, a Pontian Greek from Georgia on Sunday afternoon.
Netzadi is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 20-year-old Slovak Janka Kovacova in the summer of 2006, one of the high-profile homicides in recent years.
Yesterday afternoon he was captured by Turkish Cypriot authorities somewhere in the north.
Demetris Demetriou, acting divisional commander of Nicosia police headquarters, said they were still not sure of the precise circumstances of Netzadi’s capture.
He also could not say how soon Netzadi might be transferred to the south.
“At any rate, we’d like to convey our thanks to UNFICYP for their cooperation, which has been excellent throughout,” Demetriou told the Mail.
Given he is a Turkish Cypriot, Netzadi’s return to the Central Prisons could be more complicated than that of Kalanides.
Netzadi is also wanted by the north’s military on the charge of desertion.
Kalanides was apprehended by Turkish Cypriot police on Monday as he attempted to cross into the buffer zone.
Thanks to the intervention of UNFICYP, he was back in the hands of the Republic’s authorities yesterday. UNIFICYP delivered Kalanides to Greek Cypriot officers at the Ledra Palace checkpoint shortly after noon.
Kalanides is currently being treated at Nicosia’s general hospital after sustaining fractures in both his legs during the bold escape.
After being questioned by detectives, he was placed back into the custody of the Department of Corrections, and will return to his cell as soon as he is fit.
Kalanides is said to have told police that he and Netzadi had been planning the escape for days.
The 28-year-old is being held pending his trial for the murder of Russian national Kristina Polyntsova in April.
The woman had been killed when thieves broke into her Kennedy Avenue flat in Nicosia with the intention of robbing her.
Meanwhile the police have taken flak for the apparent abject lack of security at the prisons, with Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous warning that “heads will roll.”
The two convicts had managed to smash a window in the prison’s gym using gym equipment, jumped down the wall and ran in the direction of the buffer zone.
Questions are being asked as to why the gym’s window was not properly sealed, but moreover how the two ex-fugitives went past a watchtower and at least one security camera undetected.
The entire breakout is believed to have been caught on CCTV.
The manner of the escape has raised two scenarios: one is gross incompetence, the other that the escapees might have had inside help.
In their defence, the police force yesterday released a statement slamming critical press reports, noting that inmates are in the care of the Department of Corrections, not theirs.
The incident also made it into the political agenda, with the opposition holding the government responsible.
“Instead of coming out and condemning the guards in public, the Justice Minister should have acted preventatively by beefing up security at the prisons,” said DISY deputy Ionas Nicolaou.
But the most explosive allegations came from former prison director Panicos Kyriacou, who spoke of a “fifth column” within the prisons system – corrupt officers who were not above assisting felons.
“The Central Prisons are a shambles. Drugs, sex and corruption. Sadly, it is not a place where criminals are rehabilitated,” said Kyriacou.
He said he knew of five to six individuals who were part of this “fifth column” and who are employed in the prisons even today. Moreover, claimed Kyriacou, these people had landed the job because of their connections.
