Attorney-general defends APOEL probe

ATTORNEY-general Petros Clerides yesterday said he was told by police to investigate statements by Nicosia football club APOEL’s spokesman and that he didn’t just decide to do it after hearing the statements in the media.

The AG launched an investigation into statements by APOEL’s Panicos Hadjiliasis after his team lost in the second leg Cup game with Apollon Limassol back in January. The police deemed the statements “inflammatory” and called on Clerides to investigate whether the law had been broken.

“I was handed a letter on January 21 by the Nicosia Police Chief saying that: ‘The press spokesman of APOEL, Panicos Hadjiliasis, after the end of the football game that was carried out at Tsirion (Stadium) on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, for the Cyprus Cup, made statements, the contents of which in our view are inflammatory, encourage violence and create feelings of preconception and hostility’,” Clerides said yesterday. “And he sent me the statements in digital form, asking whether based on common law and the law for violence in sporting grounds, there were criminal offences.”

He said this proved he didn’t just take the initiative to investigate the claims without being prompted. “Not that I have anything to apologise for, though,” Clerides added. “If Mr Hadjiliasis did indeed make inflammatory statements, these need to be investigated. But the Attorney-general doesn’t go through all the television channels and newspapers searching for statements; unless it is for very important matters.”

Meanwhile, APOEL’s board member Andreas Hadjikyriacos yesterday urged the Attorney-general to wrap the investigation before the next round of matches start today. He said that the police had delayed unjustifiably in investigating the case, without any special reason.

He added that the police held a “pompous” press conference on Thursday to announce Hadjiliasis’ prosecution.

“Why, for an entire month, hasn’t this story been closed, either by prosecuting Mr Hadjiliasis or by deciding there was no case?” he wondered.

Hadjikyriacos felt the delays were hindering the team and its sporting abilities.

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.