MONDAY night’s murder of the Dias Group’s CEO Andis Hadjicostis sent shock waves across Cyprus. This was not an underworld hit that people take in their stride, shrugging their shoulders and dismissing as the settling of scores between criminals. Nobody could display this type of indifference to Monday night’s murder as it was not what we have become accustomed to.
Hadjicostis, the chief executive of the biggest media group in Cyprus, was gunned down outside his house, in a residential area in the centre of town, as he stepped out of his car at 8.45 pm. The murderer then ran to where an accomplice was waiting for him on a motorbike and fled the scene. To commit the crime, at such a time, in a centrally-located neighbourhood, was an indication of the assassin’s audacity.
It was also an indication of the prevailing lawlessness and a sign that criminals have taken control. They do not fear the police, state prosecutors or the judges because for too long they have been getting away, literally, with murder. Serious crime has gone unpunished for so long that crime lords behave as if they are untouchable. We all hear about illegal gambling rings, prostitution, protection rackets and activities of loan sharks, nobody ever seems to be prosecuted and put behind bars.
Is it any wonder that the hired killers shot down the unfortunate Hadjicostis in the centre of a busy neighbourhood at a time when people were still up and about? And is any citizen safe when criminals feel powerful and strong enough to kill a respected and influential media owner right outside his home?
Our View II: The AG should be answering questions, not asking them
OUR SOCIETY is in very deep trouble when the Attorney-general goes on the radio, the morning after a murder has been committed and bemoans the state’s powerlessness to deal with serious crime. Petros Clerides did exactly that yesterday morning when talking about Monday night’s murder.
“When people like Andis Hadjicostis are murdered in the street and nobody knows where these murderous bullets came from, then every citizen in this country should be worried,” Clerides said yesterday morning. “This situation is sad. What is happening in this country?” he asked and added: “Murder is committed and no-one knows anything. They dig up a body and nobody knows anything.”
The Attorney-general should not be asking questions, but providing answers. He is not paid to complain about the ineffectiveness of the police and lament the state authorities’ failure to protect the “ordinary citizen”. He should be working, with the police, to make our society safer instead of bemoaning the ineffectiveness of state authorities in dealing with serious crime. If he feels powerless, as Attorney-general, he should step down and let someone else do the job.
