Markides wants control over police prosecutions

By Charlie Charalambous

ATTORNEY-general Alecos Markides has called for an independent police public prosecution service in order to keep tabs on unorthodox procedures.

Markides told yesterday’s House Finance Committee meeting that there was no way of knowing why certain cases were shelved by police unless his office had more control.

“We need our own people in the police so we can control what’s going on and see why cases are being struck off,” Markides said.

He was explaining to the committee about funds in the budget to train police prosecutors and why legislation was needed to make them independent and part of the Attorney-general’s office.

“This is a professional job and prosecutors who have an average of 30 cases to prepare cannot be expected to be on duty at football matches on a Sunday.”

Markides said that on average his office was consulted on about 300 cases a month, but for the remainder the police went ahead with without seeking advice.

He said there was no way of knowing why complaints to police were not acted upon and which files never saw the light of day.

Markides argued that police prosecutors needed a separate mandate and should not treated as part of the general police force.

He also conceded there was a battle between the police and his office as to where the public prosecutors should belong.

Nevertheless he said a fledging training programme, which is to be expanded, was a success but said changing the status of police prosecutors would take years.

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.