Heart attack kills bishop’s lawyer

SOTIRIS Karapatakis, the lawyer representing embattled Limassol Bishop Chrysanthos, died of a heart attack yesterday afternoon.

The 54-year-old died at his home in Nicosia. Efforts to revive him by Dr Savvas Christodoulou, who was with him at the time, were in vain.

An ambulance took Karapatakis to Nicosia General Hospital at 6.15 pm, but doctors there could only confirm his death.

Karapatakis had spent four hours at Limassol Police Headquarters earlier in the day, presenting a statement by his client in response to latest developments in the case against him.

The bishop is entangled in a multi-million pound web of fraud allegations.

Karapatakis had been complaining of chest pains in the last few days, and visited Limassol Hospital yesterday. He had also been to Nicosia General Hospital on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Karapatakis had repeated his belief in Chrysanthos innocence. Speaking on State radio, he said he had submitted to the special committee investigating the allegations “the necessary evidence that I had in my possession, which prove his innocence in specific allegations.”

Continuing in his defence of the Bishop, Karapatakis said several people had promised money to the Chrysanthos, “which would help in his charity work,” but that these promised funds never became a reality.

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.