Mourners pay tribute to Hadjicostis at funeral

HUNDREDS OF people gathered in Nicosia yesterday to bid a final farewell to Andis Hadjicostis, the media owner murdered on Monday by unknown gunmen.
His funeral service was held at the Ayioi Omologites church and was conducted by Archbishop Chrysostomos II.
Mourners waited patiently in pouring rain to extend their condolences to the Hadjicostis family.
A long line of umbrella-wielding people stretched from inside the church to the courtyard, the street, and beyond.
“What can one say? We have lost an outstanding man. It is a big injustice,” one woman said.
“I am shocked. He is the last person I expected to be murdered,” a man added.
President Demetris Christofias interrupted his talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to attend the funeral service.
It was also attended by politicians, government officials, colleagues, media workers and friends of Hadjicostis.
Representatives from the DIAS media empire lined up to pay their respects to their murdered boss.
In his eulogy on behalf of Simerini, columnist Savvas Iacovides described Hadjicostis as a dynamic and sincere man, a passionate patriot who selflessly contributed at critical times for “our occupied country.”
He vowed that workers at the media group would not be terrorised by the “ruthless killers”.
“Your father laid solid foundations, building a powerful DIAS along with us, on a nice and exciting journey. You took over as a worthy and capable son to continue the creative course forward,” Iacovides said.
Radio Proto presenter Lazaros Mavros said the “worthy captain of the flagship of expression of the people’s resistance” had been murdered.
“We will not let them sink the flagship. We not only owe it to the people and the country… from today we also owe it to our murdered captain,” Mavros said.
Hadjicostis’ close friend Giorgos Pamporides said it seemed like a lie, “a bad dream; to be standing here to tell you the final goodbye.”
“The sorrow is untold my friend; the gap is huge,” Pamporides said with tears in his eyes.
The crowd burst into spontaneous applause as the casket-bearers carried the coffin outside the church, on its way to the cemetery for the burial.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.