TV PRESENTER Elena Skordelli, her brother Tasos Krasopoulis and Andreas Gregoriou were yesterday all referred to the Assize Court for direct trial for last month’s premeditated murder of media boss Andis Hadjicostis.
Despite objections by the defence lawyers of the accused, Nicosia district judge Charalambos Charalambous ruled that there was a prosecutable case against the trio and that they were to appear before the three Assize Court judges on February 22 at 8am.
As Charalambous announced his decision the three accused remained dead panned, their faces hard to read. Whether they will be held in custody pending their trial will be announced today after the trio’s lawyers also objected to that.
The judge accepted that the prosecution’s case was primarily based on the testimony of one witness, Theophanis Hadjigeorgiou.
“Without which it would be hard to go ahead [with the prosecution],” said Charalambous.
“Nevertheless its existence can’t be ignored just because there is only the one [testimony],” he added.
The judge said the evidence contained other statements that supported the 30-year-old key witness’ allegations.
Charalambous also said the Attorney-general had had every right to prosecute the three accused and to acquit Hadjigeorgiou. The judge made this ruling following lengthy arguments by defence lawyers Michalis Pikis, Michalakis Kyprianou and Marios Georgiou that their clients had suffered unfair discrimination.
According to the three lawyers their clients had been charged and were facing prosecution when the person who had confessed to taking part in the January 11 murder of 41-year-old Hadjicostis had been allowed to walk free in exchange for his testimony. According to Kyprianou and Georgiou such a decision was unheard of and was a gross injustice at the expense of their clients. Georgiou went a step further and said he had filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights that both Krasopouli and Skordelli had been discriminated against by the authorities of their own country. He said the AG had “exercised state terrorism” and questioned who had given Petros Clerides the right to acquit someone [Hadjigeorgiou] of the most serious crime in the penal code.
But state prosecutor Savvas Matsas argued that the AG had every right to make this decision and that any “logical thinking person” would prefer to try and convict four people in exchange for allowing one to go free instead of allowing five to walk. The fourth person Matsas was referring to was Gregoris Xenofondos, 29, who was fingered by Hadjigeorgiou as the shooter and is wanted by police. Xenofondos fled the country days after the murder with his wife and child and an international warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Yesterday’s proceedings were more emotional for the accused and their family members who were present throughout. Unlike previous court appearances Skordelli, 42, looked drawn and pale. Embracing her 20-year-old son tightly before the judge appeared, the mother-of-two’s eyes appeared unusually shiny. Krasopoulis, 37, on the other hand seemed more relaxed than his older sibling.
Gregoriou, 33 was briefly reunited with his pregnant wife who clung to her husband and wept after he was transferred to court from Nicosia general hospital where he is receiving treatment for an injury to his left leg caused by a bomb explosion in December.
Hadjicostis, CEO of the family-controlled DIAS media group and Sigma TV, was gunned down on the night of January 11 just outside his Engomi home.
He was killed instantly by two shots – one to the chest and one to the back – most likely with a short-barrelled shotgun. Police said the specific type of ammunition used in the murder weapon – 12 gauge rounds – is illegal in Cyprus.
According to witness testimonies, the first shot was fired at point-blank range while Hadjicostis was standing outside his car, speaking on the mobile phone. The victim slumped to the ground, at which point the shooter fired again.
