Police to study Kitas’ latest claims

THE police are expected to have the court minutes of convict Antonis Prokopiou Kitas’ testimony on the theft of former President Tassos Papadopoulos’ body by Thursday the latest.
According to Police Spokesman Michalis Katsounotos yesterday, Kitas’ testimony will be compared to the statement he had previously given the police and any new additions would be investigated.
On Friday, convicted murderer and rapist Kitas took to the stand at Nicosia Criminal Court to testify as one of the three main suspects in the theft of Papadopoulos’ body back in December. He pointed the finger of blame to a police inspector, a wanted man and a murder-trial witness, who he said pressured him into carrying out the crime, promising him significant benefits if he went along with it.
“Kitas repeated the claims he had made in his statement during the investigation of the case involving the theft of former President Tassos Papadopoulos’ body,” said Katsounotos. “However, we were informed by the state attorney that he had made some new claims in regards to the theft.”
He added that some of Kitas’ claims had already been investigated and proved to be nowhere near the truth; others are still under investigation.
Regarding the police inspector who Kitas named as one of the masterminds behind the crime, Katsounotos said the police had already carried out an administrative investigation into the matter.
“The investigation wrapped up recently and was presented to the Police Chief, who examined it and made specific decisions, which for ethical reasons can not yet be made public,” said Katsounotos.
“We are all viewers of the same movie and one would be justified in wondering whether the public has had enough of the claims the convict makes at times,” he added.
According to the police inspector’s lawyer on Friday, the policeman in question was the one who made public that Kitas had been leaving the Apollonion Hospital to carry out thefts and break-ins in 2008 when the convict spent six months in the clinic being treated for gastric reflux.
The policeman was also the one to uncover Kitas’ hide-out in Zygi, after the convict escaped the Apollonion and spent weeks at large.
Papadopoulos’ body was found three months after it was stolen from his grave at the cemetery of Deftera on the eve of the first anniversary of his death last December.
It was found in an existing grave at a cemetery not far from where it was taken.

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