THE trial for the murder of media owner Andis Hadjicostis got off to a bad start yesterday due to apparent preparation problems that caused lengthy delays.
The hearing started with a 90-minute delay because due to a miscommunication, one of the defendants, Gregorios Xenofontos, 29, – held at a different location – was not brought to the Nicosia Criminal Court.
The state prosecutor told the court there had been a misunderstanding as her office had notified the authorities about the defendant’s need to be transferred to court yesterday.
The other defendants are television presenter Elena Skordelli, 42, her 37-year-old brother Tasos Krasopoulis and Andreas Gregoriou, 33.
They have all pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to murder Hadjicostis who had been gunned down outside his Nicosia home on January 11 this year.
The procedure finally kicked off with Xenofontos’ defence asking the court to examine the prosecution’s refusal – as he claimed – to hand over copies of evidence, despite his letters.
Robertos Vrahimis told the court there was a lot of information contained in witness testimonies and other documents in the hands of the prosecution, that he was not aware of.
Similar motions were submitted by the other defence attorneys, who asked to be briefed on the contents of a large number of testimonies not included in the indictment.
State prosecutor Elena Kleopa said she had responded to the letters, providing detailed information on all the evidence apart from certain documents, which she said came from the police and were considered internal correspondence.
Kleopa suggested these did not affect the outcome of the trial.
The court asked Vrahimis to provide additional explanation or file his motion in writing but he opted to submit copies of some documents he had referred to and give any necessary clarification verbally.
The three-member Criminal Court withdrew for two hours before rejecting the motion while censuring the parties on the manner the procedure had commenced.
The court adjourned for this morning with Vrahimis saying he will file his motion in writing.
