Mother of murdered soldier demands justice in protest

A demonstration was held on Saturday outside the Legal Service for Thanasis Nicolaou, where his mother, Andriana, called on state authorities for justice over her son’s murder while in the National Guard in 2005.

She said, “The message of today’s gathering is that we want to live in a state of law and not a state of injustice.”

Then, she briefly reviewed the circumstances of her son’s death, saying that since September 29, 2005, her family has been constantly fighting to prove that his death was not due to a 30-metre fall from a bridge, but a murder.

“The decision of the fall from a height was made within ten minutes at the scene by the forensic expert involved, who was brought in to cover up the murder. This continued and was covered up by everyone to date, first by the Legal Service and its officials, from 2005 until recently in court at the death inquiry,” she argued.

Nicolaou added that after 19 years of superhuman efforts by the family, the cause of Thanasis’s death was proven, and a new investigation was launched by the present government to determine what was and was not done to solve the case all these years.

“Today, before all of you, I ask that we stand united, and with your support, we will move forward so that the same thing does not happen again. That is why we ask and demand that the constitution be immediately amended so that the powers of the attorney-general are separated. An independent person in charge of criminal proceedings should be appointed, whose powers are subject to judicial review,” she added.

She also called for Thanasis’s case to be kept away from all previous parties involved, as well as for continuous, detailed, and accurate information on the progress of the new investigation and direct access to the investigation and any new findings. She further noted that the findings of the new investigators should be given to the new independent person in charge of criminal proceedings to decide the further course of the case, and not again to the Legal Service.

Meanwhile, during a visit to Paphos, President Nikos Christodoulides said the aim is that nothing should be hidden in relation to the case.

In response to a journalist’s comment about the demonstration, he said that in consultation with Nicolaou, they have proceeded with the appointment of investigators.

“We should not get ahead of ourselves. We should wait. Let them work,” Christodoulides said, recalling that “specific terms of reference have been given. We want to see from 2005 to 2024, for 19 years, if there were any deliberate misconduct, what happened during that period, precisely, to do justice to Thanasis’s mother, with whom we have been in constant contact since the first moment I took office”.