Witness’s girlfriend accused of being ‘boy who cried wolf’

2011-07-30

THE GIRLFRIEND of prime prosecution witness Fanos Hadjigeorgiou yesterday broke down in court when she was repeatedly accused of lying to protect her partner.

Yiota Pendodji burst into tears when defence lawyer Michalis Pikis continually accused her of lying to help Hadjigeorgiou.

Despite Pikis’ assertions Pendodji remained adamant that she was telling the truth.

The witness was testifying as part of the ongoing murder trial of media boss Andis Hadjicostis.

Pendodji said Hadjigeorgiou, who has since confessed he was driving the getaway motorbike on the night of the murder and has been granted immunity from prosecution, had “regretted” what he’d done and “felt guilty”.

Intensified talks begin

2011-07-26

 

THE LEADERS yesterday discussed governance and power sharing as part of intensified talks to end the island’s 37-year division.

President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu met for over four hours at the United Nations Protected Area in Nicosia.

“The meeting took place in a positive atmosphere,” Lisa Buttenheim, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, told newsmen.

Yesterday’s was the first of four meetings devoted to governance and power sharing, core issues of the Cyprus talks. The discussion would continue on Friday, said Buttenheim.

The leaders’ top advisors will be holding a meeting Thursday to “discuss one issue that was raised this morning,” Buttenheim said, without elaborating.

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.