THE trial for the theft of former President Tassos Papadopoulos’ body, yesterday revealed a complex web involving defendants and witnesses from other criminal cases, including the high-profile murder of media boss Andis Hadjicostis this year.
The hearing at the Nicosia Criminal Court also saw one of the main suspects – convicted rapist and murderer Antonis Prokopiou Kitas – cross examine the witness, following a disagreement with his own lawyer.
Yesterday’s witness in the body-theft case was Theophanis Hadjigeorgiou, who is also the main witness in the Hadjicostis murder trial.
During his testimony, Hadjigeorgiou implicated a man named Giorgos Zavrantonas in theft of the former president’s body in December 2009, a month before Hadjicostis, 42, was gunned down outside his Engomi home.
Initially a suspect in the Hadjicostis case, Hadjigeorgiou was put in the witness protection programme, and had all charges dropped after he agreed to testify against the other four suspects, TV presenter Eleni Skordelli, her brother Tassos Krasopoulis and two other men.
Reading yesterday from his deposition, given to police the day after Papadopoulos’ body was recovered from a Strovolos cemetery three months after the theft, Hadjigeorgiou implicated Zavrantonas, saying he was the one who stole the former president’s remains.
In another twist, Zavrantonas himself is a witness in a case regarding a conspiracy to murder five people linked to online gambling.
The three suspects on trial for allegedly stealing the former president’s body are lifer Kitas, his brother Mamas, and Indian national Sarbjit Singh.
Hadjigeorgiou told the court yesterday that a friend of his, Andreas Gregoriou Kasapis, who is also one of the four defendants in the Hadjicostis murder — had told him that Zavrantonas was involved in the body theft.
Earlier this year, Zavrantonas pleaded guilty to plotting to kill Kasapis and his brother by planting an explosive device in their car on Christmas Day.
Hadjigeorgiou added that he knew Zavrantonas through Kasapis but they were never friends.
“Andreas hung out with Zavrantonas so inevitably I did also. Only Kasapis was my close friend and I never took part in their discussions. When they talked I left,” Hadjigeorgiou told the court.
Hadjigeorgiou said Zavrantonas knew of their plan to kill Hadjicostis, and he had voiced his concerns to Kasapis.
But Kasapis reassured him they had nothing to worry about because they knew Zavrantonas had stolen Papadopoulos’ body.
Hadjigeorgiou said: “Kasapis told me it was Zavrantonas who did the job and we have him in our hands.”
However, during the cross-examination, which was conducted by Kitas – taking over from his lawyer after a disagreement – Hadjigeorgiou said that when he saw on the news who had been arrested for stealing the body he realised Kasapis had been lying about Zavrantonas’ involvement.
He thought his friend had lied in order to keep him involved in the plot to murder Hadjicostis.
Kitas suggested to the court that Hadjigeorgiou was lying on the witness stand. He said Zavrantonas had even fallen in the tomb while removing the body. Kitas had previously implicated Zavrantonas in the theft during his own testimony as a defendant.
The trial was adjourned for December 13.
Lined up to testify are Zavrantonas and a police officer implicated by Kitas in the body theft.
Papadopoulos’ body was stolen from his grave at the Deftera cemetery on the outskirts of Nicosia on December 11, 2009 – a day before the first anniversary of his death.
The body was recovered three months later, buried in another grave in a cemetery not far from where it was stolen.
