By Martin Hellicar
IT’S OFFICIAL: foreigners implicated in a crime, even in the absence of sufficient evidence to prosecute, face deportation. The Director-general of the Interior Ministry, Andreas Panayiotou, said yesterday that police more often than not recommend deportation of foreign suspects they cannot convict. He said Attorney-general Alecos Markides usually approves such police requests.
Panayiotou was commenting on a damning Ombudswoman’s report into the deportation in September of a Russian Greek, or Pontian. The report, released on Monday, describes how father-of-two Georgios Politides was deported a month after he was arrested on suspicion of theft, even though he was never charged.
Ombudswoman Eleana Nicolaou, who described the deportation as blatantly racist, noted that Politides was expelled six days before his appeal against the deportation order was due to be heard by the Supreme Court.
“I wouldn’t say it was commonplace, but when foreigners are implicated in illegal acts, police have always — given the approval of the Attorney-general, and this repeatedly has been given — suggested they not be prosecuted, when there is not enough evidence to do so, but deported. I am talking about foreigners (in general), not just Pontians,” Panayiotou said yesterday.
The Pontian community in Paphos has been labelled by some as a den of thieves and troublemakers, but Panayiotou insisted there had been nothing improper about Politides’ deportation.
“There were complaints that Mr Politides had been involved in a theft in Paphos. After investigating, police suggested there be no prosecution, but asked the Attorney-general for his deportation. The Attorney-general gave his approval. The file was forwarded to the Immigration Department, which issued a deportation order,” the Interior Ministry official said.
But despite the claim that Markides had rubber-stamped the deportation, the Attorney-general’s office yesterday called the deportation of the Pontian a blatant injustice.
And despite his insistence that nothing wrong had been done, Panayiotou said the ministry would look into Politides’ case again. Nicolaou recommended that the state pay for his return to Cyprus, where his wife and two children still live.
The Paphos police chief, Spyros Koniotis, also defended the force’s handling of the case yesterday.
Nicolaou had named the Paphos police chief in her report as being personally responsible for deporting Politides as a way of dealing with the town’s perceived Pontian problem.
Koniotis confirmed that he had suggested the man be deported. “I took this initiative because of the problem with the Pontians,” he said.
He confirmed that Politides had been held at Paphos police station for almost a month before his September 4 deportation. “Paphos police bear no responsibility for his being deported before his appeal was heard” in the Supreme Court, the police chief said.
He was at pains to emphasise that the theft in which Politides was originally suspected of involvement was serious, containing elements of “abuse of trust by an employee” and “burglary”.
The case concerned the theft of a bottle of wine and two small bottles of Coca-Cola from a shop.
Another suspect in the same case was deported to Greece, he said.
Panayiotou said members of the Pontian community in Paphos had agreed to a state plan to record them all. He said the aim of this census would be to help community members find jobs and homes.
Police are currently investigating death threats against Paphos Pontians from a hitherto unheard of organisation calling itself Golden Dawn.
Diko deputy Nicos Pittokopitis, who has in the past been outspoken in his criticism of the Pontian community, yesterday condemned Golden Dawn’s threats against them. And the Bishop of Paphos, Chrysostomos, expressed the Church’s support for Pontians, calling them fellow Christian “brothers”.
