Defamatory innuendo about my motives

Sir,

My attention has been drawn to your comment in the Tales from the Coffee Shop by Patroclos (Sunday Mail, September 7), which, inter alia, refers to my office’s involvement in a case against the Church.

You say that the person allegedly “brainwashed” into becoming a monk is an adult with a Ph.D. Age and qualifications come into it, but are not the crucial factor. A court strikes down contracts made by adults of all walks of life, if undue influence is proven, established, indeed presumed in certain relations.

Frankly, the examples you quote of becoming a civil servant or estranged members of the family are irrelevant. No undue influence there of “brainwashing”.

Your innuendo about myself doing this for money is absolutely defamatory. You say “I am not … suggesting that lawyer Christos Clerides … is doing it for the money”, but you pay lip service to it by adding “If Clerides achieves anything other than improving his bank balance with his case, then I will become a monk…”

Also, you stated that I am doing this to enhance my credentials, having presented cases of dozens of refugees, and that this has added a pound or two in my bank account. The innuendo is of self and economic interest as my prime motivation as a professional.

Dr Christos Clerides

Advocate

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