By Martin Hellicar
THE EUROPEAN Court of Human Rights has ruled Cypriot riot squad (MMAD) officers did not use excessive force when they shot dead a Paphos couple five years ago.
On Christmas Eve 1993, Lefteris Andronicou and his fiancée Elsie Constantinou were killed after armed MMAD officers stormed a flat in Chlorakas outside Paphos where Andronicou had been holding Constantinou hostage.
The families of the deceased lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in August 1994, claiming the government had violated Article 2 of the European Convention, which stipulates “no one shall be deprived of his life intentionally”.
Five of the court judges rejected the appeal, whereas four – including the chairman of the Cyprus Supreme Court, Georgis Pikis – upheld it.
In a ruling released in Strabourg yesterday, the court stated “in the circumstances the use of lethal force could not be said to have exceeded what was absolutely necessary for the purpose of defending the lives of Elsie Constantinou and of the officers.”
The court noted that Article 2 states “deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary in defence of any person from unlawful violence.”
Police said at the time of the incident that Andronicou was armed and was threatening to kill Constantinou. He had been holding her against her will following a domestic dispute, police said.
Andronicou was hit by 29 bullets and Constantinou by about 20 after two MMAD officers barged their way into the flat. One of the officers was injured.
The court expressed “regret” that “so much fire power had been used by the officers.” But it added “it could not substitute its own assessment of the situation for that of the officers required to react in the heat of the moment in what was for them a unique and unprecedented operation to save life.”
“We accept that the two officers involved in the raid honestly believed in the circumstances that it was necessary to kill Lefteris in order to save the life of Elsie and their own lives and to fire at him repeatedly to remove any risk that he might reach for a weapon,” the ruling stated.
The European court also rejected the families’ claim that they had been denied access to a local court for determination of their civil claim against the government.
The European court ruling backs the conclusions of an independent committee of inquiry set up by the government after the killings. The inquiry absolved the officers of any wrong-doing.
Attorney-general Alecos Markides welcomed the ruling as a “vindication” of the government but protested that the matter should have been settled by a local court.
He said that, had the European court found in favour of the families of the deceased, the “impression” would have been given abroad that Cyprus had violated two young persons’ right to life.
He said the “deciding factor” in the court’s ruling was the acceptance that the MMAD officers had acted to protect the life of Elsie and their own.
The lawyer for the families, Michalakis Kyprianou, said they would not be giving up, but rather taking their case to local courts.
“I am rendered speechless by the decision of the five judges,” he said, adding that they had arrived at the ruling “despite” the “facts” that the MMAD officers had shot Andronikou another ten times while he lay on the floor and that his gun had been on the couch, and not in his hands, all along.
