Arrested for saintly body snatch

A PRIEST and two other Cypriots allegedly stole the remains of a woman in Greece and tried to bring them to Cyprus because they believed she was a saint, police said yesterday.

The trio were arrested on Sunday evening at Eleftherios Venizelos airport while preparing to board a flight to Cyprus.

Reports from Greece said police officers found the remains in a suitcase.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said the 42-year-old priest, who said he was a permanent resident of Kykko Monastery, another man, 54, and a 60-year-old woman “claim they took the remains of the woman, whom they consider a saint, to bury them in Cyprus.”

Katsounotos said the three apparently dug up the remains of Eleni Vathiadou after a memorial service held by the woman’s family at a Nikea cemetery to mark four years since her death.

The three were arrested and yesterday they appeared before a prosecutor in Athens who charged them with theft and desecrating a deceased person.

A court hearing has been set for later this month



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.