Judicial council objects to Varoshiotou’s appeal

The Supreme Judicial Council on Monday objected to an appeal by Doria Varoshiotou against its decision not to proceed with her permanent appointment and to terminate her term as district Judge.

The objection, submitted on Monday by lawyer Polyvios Polyviou, says the appellant lacks a legitimate interest in challenging the council’s decision not to ratify her appointment.

Polyviou said the application was incorrect and/or incomplete, as legislation and regulations on which it was based did not give authority to issue the requested decree or a declaration confirming the suspension of execution of the contested decision of the council.

Varoshiotou was told on June 30 she would not be made permanent after completing her two-year probationary term.

Polyviou also said the application was considered inadmissible by the council.

Furthermore, he said Varoshiotou’s appeal could not be considered to produce other results, namely her return to the Limassol district court.

The jurisdiction of the Supreme Constitutional Judicial Court to issue the requested decree and order her return to the Limassol district court is also questioned, Polyviou said.

The hearing of appeal has been set for July 23, when both sides will make oral arguments before the Administrative Court of Appeal.

The procedure for examining the main application has been set for August 25.

Varoshiotou had presided over the highly publicised Thanasis Nicolaou case – the third inquiry into the circumstances of his death – and ruled in May 2024 that the young man’s death had been caused by strangulation “due to criminal activity”. In doing so, she overturned the verdict of ‘suicide’ that had stood for 19 years.

In its late June decision, the judicial council – which reviews the performance of judges – said she was unfit for the job, citing in its opinion errors made by Varoshiotou during her two-year probation period.

It therefore ruled that her position should not be rendered permanent and terminated her services. Had she stayed on, she would have become a tenured judge at Limassol district court.

In particular, the judicial council took exception with her handling of the Nicolaou case, where Varoshiotou had barred a forensic pathologist from testifying.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court, to which the former state pathologist Panikos Stavrianos – who had given suicide as the cause of death – appealed because Varoshiotou had not allowed him to testify, found that Varoshiotou committed legal errors in the way she conducted the case. It did not, however, overturn her decision as a whole.