Kitas brothers deny any involvement in Papadopoulos grave robbery

CONVICTED murder Antonis Prokopiou Kitas and his brother, Mamas, yesterday denied any involvement in last December’s grave robbing of former president Tassos Papadopoulos’ remains.
The two brothers yesterday pleaded not guilty to 13 and nine charges, respectively, including desecration of a grave, insulting religion and insulting the memory of the dead. Antonis Kitas is facing four more charges related to masterminding the grave robbing and convincing his brother and another Indian man to commit the criminal offences.
The Indian man, who is the third accused in the case that shocked island, stands accused of the same nine charges as well as three more charges including illegal residence in Cyprus, circulating false documents and posing as another individual. The Indian yesterday pleaded guilty to five of the 12 charges which include the last three as well as illegally entering a cemetery and digging up the remains of a dead person without permission. The Indian man, like the other two accused, denied he was involved in reburying Papadopoulos’ remains in the grave of another man located at Strovolos cemetery. The Indian, who was the whistleblower, also denied trying to blackmail Papadopoulos’ family into making a payout of €100,000 in exchange for information regarding the whereabouts of the former president’s remains.
The Nicosia Assize Court scheduled the trial date for July 12 when the Indian man will also face sentencing for the five charges he pleaded guilty to.
On December 11, 2009 the Indian man, was caught with a fake Bulgarian passport, and Mamas Kitas allegedly stole Papadopoulos’ remains from the Ayios Nicholaos cemetery in Deftera. On March 8 police were tipped off by an anonymous caller who said that Papadopoulos’ body was in Strovolos cemetery. His remains were identified by DNA tests. Antonis Kitas allegedly masterminded the whole thing from behind bars.

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