VISITING hours at Nicosia’s Central Prison were suspended for an hour on Sunday after an inmate allegedly attacked a warden.
At the centre of the disturbance was one of the notorious Akhtar brothers, who is serving time with his father and brother over a vicious attack on officers in August 2007.
Specifically, Giorgos Akhtar, who is staying in wing 1A with his father, Andreas, allegedly attacked a prison guard when he was not allowed to see his younger brother Elias, who is in the maximum security wing.
According to Deputy Prison Director George Tryfonides, “When wardens intervened to take him to isolation [over the attack] he refused to be handcuffed and the wardens had to use necessary force.”
According to Tryfonides, during his transfer to the isolation ward, Giorgos Akhtar allegedly “threw himself on the ground”. A doctor was called in who recommended Giorgos Akhtar, 28, be transferred to the Nicosia General Hospital.
Upon hearing the news, the man’s father, Andreas Akhtar, reacted and it was ordered that he remain detained in cell block 1A.
At around 2pm, Giorgos Akhtar was transferred to Nicosia General Hospital under strict police surveillance.
Later in the day, Andreas Akhtar told wardens he was also not feeling well. Because of his medical history, his transfer to the hospital was deemed vital. Shortly after 6pm on Sunday, father and son returned to the Central Prison.
Elias and Giorgos Akhtar, 23 and 28, became fugitives in 2007 after attacking five police officers with swords during a search of their family home for drugs and weapons.
They remained on the run until June last year when they were arrested in Mykonos and were sentenced only in October to four and a half and three and a half years respectively. Their 56-year-old father Andreas was sentenced to two years for his involvement in the case.
Relatives of the Akhtar family told the media that prison wardens had entered Giorgos Akhtar’s cell and beat him up without reason.
It is not the first time the imprisoned family members have caused disturbances in the Central Prisons. In January this year they were implicated in starting a riot after one of the brothers assaulted an elderly inmate.
