THE SISTER of TV presenter Elena Skordelli and Tasos Krasopoulis, who are in custody in connection with the murder of media boss Andis Hadjicostis, was arrested and charged after she allegedly made threatening signs to two other suspects in custody.
The sister was seen by state prosecutor Savvas Matsas making threatening hand gestures to suspects Andreas Gregoriou, 33, and Theophanis Hadjigeorgiou, 30, during their remand hearing at Nicosia’s Hippocration hospital on Sunday morning. The woman allegedly ran her finger across her throat to Hadjigeorgiou and motioned to Gregoriou to keep his mouth shut using a gesture where she pretended to stitch her own mouth shut.
She was charged with threatening assault and battery, attempting to influence witnesses and interfering in a police investigation.
Both Hadjigeorgiou and Gregoriou were arrested in connection with the January 11 killing within days of the murder. According to Hadjigeorgiou, who made a full confession to police on January 21 in exchange for entry into the witness protection programme, he and Gregoriou had been employed by Skordelli, 42, and Krasopoulis, 37, to kill Hadjicostis in exchange for money and employment at Sigma television station. Hadjigeorgiou said Gregoriou had helped plan the murder but had been unable to carry out the hit after he was seriously injured in a bomb explosion in December and has since been in hospital recovering. Instead he named a third man, Gregoris Xenofontos, 29, as the shooter. Xenofontos has since fled the country and is thought to be in Moldova with his wife and child. An international warrant has been issued for his arrest.
On Sunday all four suspects currently in custody, including Skordelli, Krasopoulis, Gregoriou and Hadjigeorgiou, were remanded for a further eight days. Meanwhile Judge Stalo Hadjiyianni turned down a request by the defence to see the four statements given to police by Hadjigeorgiou on the grounds that it could impede the investigation at this point.
Reports said the foursome could be charged in court as early as this Friday, despite the fact that the gun used to kill Hadjicostis, 41, has yet to be found nor has Xenofontos been arrested.
