Murder suspects held over for trial

A NICOSIA district court yesterday rejected a defence request to release three suspects pending the start of the trial for the murder of media owner Andis Hadjicostis.
A fourth suspect did not object to remaining in custody until the start of the trial.
The three – television presenter Elena Skordelli, 42, her 37-year-old brother Tasos Krasopoulis and Andreas Gregoriou, 33, are being held for the murder of Hadjicostis in January this year.
On Wednesday, the state filed a motion to suspend the prosecution of the first three suspects in order to add Gregoris Xenofontos, 29, on the charge sheet.
All four have been committed to trial before the Nicosia criminal court on October 25.
Xenofontos, who is believed to be the triggerman, had fled the island for Moldova shortly after the January-11 murder. He was extradition to Cyprus earlier this month.
Defence lawyers for Skordelli, Krasopoulis and Gregoriou, asked the court on Monday to release their clients on bail, arguing the delay in the trial was not their fault.
Judge Pambos Charalambos rejected the request saying public interest prevailed over personal freedom when there was a risk the defendant fleeing, influencing witnesses or committing other offenses.
“Regarding this danger, the court took into consideration among other things, the gravity of the offences, the length of the potential sentence and the possibility of conviction,” Charalambous said.
The defendants face premeditated murder charges, which carry a mandatory life sentence.
“In the event of conviction, the sentence will be life imprisonment, something, which increases the possibility of the defendants attempting to flee to avoid trial and the risk of punishment,” the judge said.
The district judge also cited prosecution testimony that allegedly said Skordelli had called a witness one day after the murder, and told her that she had just told police she did not know her or her husband.
Skordelli also told Rea Andronikou not to call her on her mobile but use the number of a relative.
The state’s main witness will be Theophanis Hadjigeorgiou, initially arrested as a suspect but who subsequently received immunity from prosecution in return for testifying against the others.
The defence argues that his testimony is weak.
The judge said he did not ignore the fact that Hadigeorgiou was an accomplice, but he said his and the rest of the testimonies would be assessed by the criminal court trying the case.
Judge Charalambous also said that the defendants’ lengthy detention – nine months until the trial – was not a reason to release them on bail.
Sigma boss Hadjicostis, 42, was gunned down outside his Engomi home on January 11 as he exited his car having just arrived home from work.

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.