New prison chief appointed

THE CIVIL Service Committee has appointed a new Prison director to replace Haris Themistocleous, who resigned in May.

Panicos Kyriacou, current aide to the Chief of Police, was selected by the Committee to take over as the new Central Prison warden. Kyriacou was one of two candidates that fulfilled the criteria for the position. It has not yet been decided when he will take up his position.

Since Themistocleous resigned in May, senior Justice Ministry officer, Spyros Efstathiou, has served as acting head pending the appointment of a replacement. Themistocleous stepped down as prison director over disagreements with Justice Minister Nicos Koshis and after he received a letter telling him to refrain from making public statements about prison policy.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.