AG had failed to seek lifting of immunity for all charges
THE CORRUPTION trial against MEP Marios Matsakis collapsed yesterday after it emerged that the Attorney-general had only asked for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted on some of the charges he was facing.
A first charge was dropped last week.
But Matsakis said yesterday his ordeal wasn’t over yet, with charges relating to illegal possession of antiquities still looming.
The colourful MEP, a pathologist by profession, was brought to trial after Drug Squad Sergeant Yiannos Ioannou, accused of unlawfully shooting a suspected drug dealer in 2004, claimed the MEP had offered to swing his testimony in his favour for a fee of £10,000. Matsakis had been representing the drug dealer.
Last Monday, the former DIKO deputy had a first corruption charge against him dropped after the intervention of the Attorney-general, after Ioannou was found not guilty of unlawfully shooting the drug dealer. Following Ioannou’s acquittal, it was deemed unfeasible to prosecute Matsakis.
Yesterday, Matsakis’ defence team put it to the court that Attorney-general Petros Klerides had failed to request from the President of the European Parliament, in a letter dated September 15, 2004, that the MEP’s immunity be lifted to investigate certain corruption charges specifically stipulated by the second charge.
The prosecution, the court heard yesterday, had only requested his parliamentary immunity be lifted in connection with offences dealt with by the first charge.
Citing that exact technicality yesterday, Judge Lemonia Kaoutzani said a request for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted for offences on the second charge had not been made and that therefore the court could not proceed with the trial.
“In light of what has been addressed to this court, I have decided that the lifting of Marios Matsakis’ parliamentary immunity from the European Parliament has not been granted for the second charge. Therefore, the ongoing case cannot continue and the defendant is excused from the second charge.”
Speaking from Brussels yesterday, Matsakis told the Cyprus Mail he was still far from satisfied.
“The torture for me is not over yet. You could say that I am only partially satisfied because they still have my urns and I could face charges over them. You can judge for yourself as to whether I am pleased or not.”
In a case still pending, police have accused Matsakis of failing to declare his vast collection of antiques, seizing a large number of chests and urns during a raid on his home in the village of Pyrga.
A request for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted concerning the urn and chest allegations has been approved by the European Parliament.
Charges related to that case have yet to be transferred to court from the Attorney-general’s office.
Matsakis has courted controversy in the past, using commando tactics to enter the British Sovereign Base Areas, running into the buffer zone to snatch a Turkish flag and walking into the Turkish occupied north to hand Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat a cake, knowing he was wanted for arrest in the north.
