THE NICOSIA Criminal Court yesterday rejected a prosecution request for several overseas expert witnesses to testify via teleconference in the Helios air crash.
State prosecutors had filed two separate requests: one on September 28 for two United States National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) witnesses and another last Monday for five witnesses working for Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft that crashed in Greece in August 2005, killing all 121 on board.
The three-member court’s decision was read by its President, Judge Haris Solomonides, who pointed out that despite the existence of an agreement between Cyprus and the US for mutual judicial assistance, which includes teleconferencing, no law had been passed later, defining the conditions and criteria for its implementation.
Under these circumstances, Solomonides said, the prosecution’s motion effectively asked the court to create laws and regulations, something outside its jurisdiction.
The court said it did not examine whether to allow testimony through teleconferencing, but whether there is an available legal framework that governs such an undertaking.
The court also judged that the prosecution did not sufficiently substantiate its claim that the employers of the witnesses did not allow them to travel to Cyprus to testify.
Solomonides noted that the subpoenas issued by the prosecutors gave the witnesses the option to testify via teleconferencing.
It is unthinkable for an employer to decide how their employee would testify, the court said.
Solomonides added that the court also took into consideration that due to the nature of the trial it would be impossible for the witnesses to testify remotely as they would have been asked to handle evidence submitted in court.
The defendants in the trial are Andreas Drakos, chairman of the board of Helios, Demetris Pantazis, chief executive officer, Ianko Stoimenov, (former) chief pilot, Giorgos Kikidis, the operations manager and Helios Airways as a legal entity.
They face charges of manslaughter and of causing the death of 119 people through a reckless act.
Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
They are on trial for “employing, and continuing to employ, unfit and inadequate pilots”.
Meanwhile on Sunday, relatives of the victims of the crash will be donating blood in the memory of their beloved ones.
The event will start at 3.30 pm and will be held at the Latsia lyceum in Nicosia.
