Court adjourned over Avakoum scandal

The court case regarding the two monks who were found with €800,000 of unexplained cash and having allegedly engaged in sexual acts with one another at the Osiou Avakoum monastery was adjourned on Friday until October 23 due to an amendment to the indictment.

The postponement had been requested by the defendants’ lawyer Efstathios Efstathiou after five more new charges were added to the indictment, all of which concerned theft.

As a result, both monks, named Nektarios and Porphyrios, now face a total of 24 charges, with the new charges carrying a potentially longer jail term than ordinary theft.

The remaining charges concern matters such as illegally possessing large amounts of property, forgery, circulation of a forged documents, money laundering, falsifying a tax return, and other similar crimes.

Both monks will remain on bail until the trial resumes, with Nektarios having been asked to submit a guarantee of €100,000, to give the name of a worthy guarantor, and having been banned from leaving the country. He was also required to hand over all his travel documents and must present himself to the Ayios Dhometios police station once a week.

Porphyrios was subject to many of the same conditions, being required to give the name of a worthy guarantor, and having been banned from leaving the country, required to hand over all his travel documents, present himself to the Ayios Dhometios police station once a week, though his bail has been set at only €50,000.