ATTORNEY-GENERAL Petros Clerides is taking a closer look at five cases of people who are facing charges after insulting President Demetris Christofias.
Clerides, as the head of the state’s legal services, has ultimate authority over whether a case should go forward or be withdrawn.
He is also legal advisor to the government although there are cases where the police can press charges without necessarily consulting the office of the Attorney-general.
The five cases of people charged after insulting Christofias “were investigated by the police who decided there were enough grounds, based on the witness material to press charges,” police spokesman Andreas Angelides told the Mail.
Earlier last week on Wednesday, a 35-year-old appeared in court facing ‘public nuisance’ charges after allegedly shouting ‘Fool President, quit’.
The prosecution witnesses are two police officers, members of the Presidential guard and a police officer who took the man’s statements at the police station.
One of the defence lawyers, Anna Pilidou, told the court last Wednesday she would ask Clerides to re-evaluate the case because the witness material did not support the charge of public nuisance.
Following that, daily newspaper Phileleftheros reported this week that the Attorney-general requested all pending cases, that of the alleged ‘Fool’ outburst and also four others.
However, the Attorney-general refused to confirm this telling the Cyprus Mail that he would not be making any comments.
The police said they were not informed about the Attorney-general’s actions adding they were unable to give any information on the pending cases as they were now out of their hands and in those of the District Court.
However, legal sources have confirmed that all five cases are indeed being re-examined by the Attorney-general who can have them dropped, if he so wishes.
“The Attorney-general has final say and does not need to explain why he drops cases. However, as all cases have a similar legal structure, it would be very strange if he dropped one and allowed the others to move forward in court,” a legal source told the Cyprus Mail.
The 35-year-old was charged with being a public nuisance “by committing an act not authorised by law… which as a consequence disturbed the practice of the public’s rights,” the prosecution said.
The people present during the 35-year-old’s alleged act were two presidential guards, and Christofias.
The 35-year-old was one of three others charged between July and September last year after they and thousands of other protesters expressed anti-Christofias’ sentiments following the devastating naval base blast at Mari, which killed 13 and knocked out the island’s main power station.
One person was charged with public nuisance after a derogatory hand gesture targeted towards Christofias’ car. Someone else shouted at Christofias outside the President’s residence and was also charged with being a public nuisance.
One of the pending cases predates the Mari blast when in 2010 a man insulted Christofias at a coffeeshop and also ended up facing public nuisance charges.
And a man was charged with vilification – a more serious charge – after chanting an anti-Christofias slogan during a football match. The Mail was told he pleaded guilty to the charges although the police were unable to provide any information.
