Supreme Court points to legal errors in Varoshiotou’s handling of Thanasis trial

Judge Doria Varoshiotou who exposed claims of foul play in the long-running case of conscript Thanasis Nicolaou has been removed from her post.

Varoshiotou, whose name became linked with high-profile death inquiries, was dismissed on Monday by the Supreme Judicial Council, just days before marking two years on the bench. According to a report on Philenews, her dismissal follows fierce disputes with the president of the Limassol District Court over two separate inquests into accidental deaths.

Court documents published on legal website CyLaw reveal that, on June 12, 2024, Varoshiotou clashed with the court president over the findings of two coroners’ reports. One related to a woman killed in a traffic accident. The other concerned a man who died after falling from scaffolding.

Relatives in both cases had accepted the causes of death. Yet the president summoned Varosiotou, urging her to amend her written conclusions and the wording of her findings. He warned that he would refuse to sign the formal letter closing the inquests unless she changed the reports.

In a memorandum the next day, Varoshiotou rejected the order. She argued that, under the constitution and the coroners law, no judge can be forced to alter a coroner’s verdict once issued. She sought views from the attorney-general and the families involved.

In her ruling on May 15, 2025, she wrote:

“No one may intervene in the work of the coroner after the finding has been issued. It can only be quashed by an order of certiorari.”

She concluded that the president’s order “cannot be executed.”

Legal analysts say this open challenge to the court’s top official may have sealed Ms Varoshiotou’s fate. On June 30, the Supreme Judicial Council decided she “does not meet the criteria” to continue as judge.

Varoshiotou, who had worked as a lawyer in a large Nicosia firm, had a controversial path into the judiciary. Her first application to become a judge was rejected, despite having made it through the initial stages. She took the matter to the Supreme Court, which ruled there was no process to appeal such decisions. That legal battle prompted the creation of a formal procedure allowing judicial candidates to challenge the council’s decisions in the future.

She was eventually appointed as a temporary judge on July 1, 2023. However, she was never confirmed permanently in her role.

The dismissal also comes against the backdrop of her involvement in the explosive inquest into the death of 26-year-old national guardsman Thanasis Nicolaou.

Varoshiotou came under intense public attention after refusing to let state pathologist Panicos Stavrianos testify in the case. Legal clashes followed between Varoshiotou and prosecutors. In May 2024, she issued a coroner’s verdict overturning two decades of official narratives. For the first time, the court concluded that Nicolaou had died as a result of criminal violence, specifically strangulation. She relied on testimony from doctors who examined the soldier’s hyoid bone.

Her ruling directly contradicted the law office, which for years maintained that the cause of Nicolaou’s death should remain “open.”

One month after delivering her verdict in Nicolaou’s case, Varoshiotou was moved from criminal to civil duties, a decision some see as retaliation, though the judiciary has not publicly commented on the reason.

Stavrianos later challenged her inquest decision at the Supreme Court. The court declined to overturn the verdict but found legal errors in how Varoshiotou had handled parts of the proceedings.

Varoshiotou was informed of her removal on Monday morning. When she entered court to handle a case, she told the clerk to record in the official transcript: 

“In view of the fact that I have just been informed that my services in the judicial service have been terminated, you will be notified by the Registry regarding new hearing dates and the progress of the cases.”

As of June 30, the Supreme Judicial Council had not issued a formal statement on the reasons for her dismissal.