More charges added to Akhtar case

THE LIMASSOL District Court yesterday not only rejected the defence’s objections to some of the charges against the Akhtar brothers, but imposed an additional five charges against the duo, bringing the total number of charges to 46.

Defence lawyer Soteris Patsalides had claimed that the brothers faced more than one charge for the same offence, adding that the prosecution’s case was overly complicated and the Akhtars were overburdened with excessive charges.

The court yesterday rejected this claim and at the same time imposed additional charges for the beating of another police officer.

Patsalides then raised an additional objection, claiming that on August 8, 2007, when police visited the Akhtar house, they illegally executed the same search warrant twice.

According to a statement by a police officer, the search warrant was executed at 7.40pm, which is not the same time the Akhtars allegedly attacked the police officers.

The court accepted to conduct a ‘trial within a trial’ to ascertain the defence’s claims. The hearing will take place today in Limassol.

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