AG announces strict measures for coming court proceedings
THE HELIOS trial will take place under strict security measures to avoid a repeat of February’s violence when relatives of the air crash victims attacked the four men accused of being responsible for the tragedy.
Attorney-general Petros Clerides said the four men who had been indicted in connection with the 2005 August crash had the same right to personal dignity as anyone else.
Deputy AG Akis Papasavvas added that he understood the relatives’ anguish but that they could not be allowed to act as a lynch mob and to physically assault the accused.
“Everyone’s behaviour has to be the same,” Papasavvas said.
The two legal experts were speaking at a news conference yesterday to address a series of issues that their office deals with.
Clerides said a meeting involving the police, court authorities and the legal services was had taken place on Tuesday to address what security measures were necessary during the Helios trial. Details of what those measures included were not made public, although the issue of whether or not it should take place in a ground floor courtroom was discussed.
In February, the district court adjourned the trial until April 30 after one of the accused, Giorgos Kikidis, did not appear. The operations manager for the airline had been abroad recovering from surgery for oesophageal cancer.
At that time, the court had been due to hear the evidence and decide on the Attorney-general’s recommendation to refer the case to a criminal court so that the trial proper could get under way.
Based on Clerides’ comments the likelihood of another adjournment is high.
The AG said Kikidis was still extremely unwell and the trial would either have to be postponed or would continue without him.
“We might drop the charges [against him] and continue with the others,” he said.
Clerides said he would not force the accused to come home if he was critically ill and any decision the Legal Services made would be based on Kikidis’ doctors’ recommendations.
Asked whether the relatives might object to the charges being dropped against Kikides, Clerides said his office had to make the “right decisions” and not decisions based on what other people wanted or thought.
The AG was adamant that he would not be held responsible for worsening the health condition of the accused just because people wanted him to stand trail.
“It will make a difference if they [doctors] tell us he will be better in a month, or in six months, or that he only has a short while to live. A lot depends on the decision,” he said.
The other accused are Andreas Drakos, chief executive officer of Helios; Demetris Pantazis, general manager; and Ianko Stoimenov, chief pilot and Helios Airways as a legal entity.
In August 2005 a Boeing 737-300 jet operated by Helios Airways on route to Athens crashed killing all 121 people on board. It was the worst aviation disaster in Cypriot history.
