By Charlie Charalambous
THE CRIMINAL court will decide today on whether a crucial statement by a murder suspect in the Hambis Aeroporos trial should be admissible as prosecution evidence.
Prosecution and defence lawyers yesterday gave their closing arguments on the issue of whether the police statement given by a former special constable was lawfully obtained.
Nicos Clerides, defence lawyer for murder suspect Savvas Ioannou, alias Kinezos, claims his client was tricked into making a statement because police failed to inform him that he was a suspect in the Aeroporos murder case.
“The prosecution has tried to prove that the accused made a voluntary statement; it was not voluntary but taken under psychological duress and deceit,” Clerides said during his closing argument in yesterday’s trial within a trial over the admissibility of the statement.
Clerides said Ioannou had not been warned that he was a murder suspect and could therefore incriminate himself by making any statement.
The defence dismissed CID testimony that Ioannou was not in fact considered a prime suspect when he was called in for questioning, which was why he was not informed as such.
Clerides was also unhappy that his client spent five hours at police HQ when he was questioned.
Ioannou, 33, was arrested on December 16, the day of the murder, for illegal possession of ammunition and an air gun that were found at his home.
He was then arrested a second time the next day, this time in connection with the killing and questioned at Nicosia police HQ.
The police statement concerned Ioannou’s movements on the day of the murder and phone calls made to his mobile phone and to a mobile phone found in the hit-men’s car, which was abandoned at the scene of the crime outside Limassol.
Police also discovered that Ioannou was in constant phone contact with fellow accused policeman Christos Symeonides, 35, on December 16.
State prosecutor Petros Clerides yesterday refuted defence arguments, saying all the proper procedures had been followed and Ioannou had the right to remain silent.
“As a former policeman the accused knew his rights and they were not violated,” said Petros Clerides.
“It is not possible that the accused would not be asked about the phone, just as a process of elimination seeing he knew the person to whom the calls were made,” Clerides explained.
The mobile found at the scene had Ioannou’s number logged in the memory.
“What else could police do other than eliminate those who were linked to the phone’s memory,” the prosecutor said.
Three other accused, waiter Prokopis Prokopi, 35, cabaret owner Sotiris Athinis, 43, and his 51-year-old sister and hospital cleaner Zoe Alexandrou have pleaded not guilty to charges of involvement in the killing.
The trial continues today.
