A FUNERAL was held yesterday at the Ayios Charalambous church in Aglandjia for Michalis and Maria Maronitis, an elderly couple killed during the 1974 invasion. Their remains were identified using DNA testing.“This was a cold blooded murder of two harmless people , elderly people aged 77 and 75,” said Director of the President’s Office, Christos Christofides.Christofides took the opportunity to issue another plea to the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) and the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), to resolve their differences over the signing of a new contract for the identification of the missing.Christofides said he had buried his own father a few years ago thanks to the DNA identification process... 7 comments

STAFF AT the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) yesterday demonstrated for an hour outside the building in support of management’s long-running battle with the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) over identification of the remains. In a released statement, staff sent out a message to relatives of the missing that CING “can and wants to” carry out the programme for identification of the remains of the missing under the direction of Dr Marios Kariolou following internationally set scientific protocols, and within a short period of time. Staff at CING also expressed their support to the institute’s chairman Christos Phylactou, director Philippos Patsalis and Kariolou in the ongoing dispute with the CMP over identification of the remains. ... 1 comment

 THE CYPRUS Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) have reaffirmed their commitment to sign a new contract with the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) for DNA testing of remains, after appearing to go back on it just a few days ago.“We’ve decided to sign the contract proposed to us by the CMP….the decision made by the board last night [on Thursday night] and last week, which was to sign the contract the way it is,” said CING director Dr. Philippos Patsalis yesterday.President Demetris Christofis castigated CING on Thursday saying that despite the majority decision taken by the board to sign the new contract, the head of the board made known in parliament his own opinion instead of the board’s, which were in contradiction... Read on

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias called on the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) yesterday to resolve their differences with the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) and sign the new contract in order to continue with the identification process.“We must all show understanding…and sign the contract or [the process of identifying missing persons] will be taken away from Cyprus,” said Christofias, adding that this would be a shame.Just a few days ago CING was ready to sign the new contract following an acceptance of the contract proposal put forward by the CMP.Christofias said that the CING board by majority had decided to sign the contract, but on Wednesday, in parliament, the head of the board put forward his own opinion instead of that of t... Read on

THE CYPRUS Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) has accepted a contract proposal put forward by the Committee for Missing Persons (CMP) and should sign the new contract in a matter of days, according to presidential commissioner George Iacovou.“It was very difficult, they could not manage to come to an agreement and that’s why we had so much involvement…even the president himself,” said Iacovou, adding that the CING board, by majority, accepted the CMP’s proposal.Iacovou, who has been acting as mediator in the ongoing dispute said that the new contract should be signed within the next few days... Read on

BOXES with the exhumed remains of missing persons have been gathering dust for a year because of an “incomprehensible” situation threatening the good work of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), relatives of missing persons said this week.The CMP investigates cases of persons reported missing during inter-communal fighting or other events of 1974.However, “a stalemate in the process” has “spread dismay among the relatives of both sides of the divide,” said the group Together We can! – a bi-communal initiative of relatives of missing persons, victims of massacres and other victims of 1963-74 events.“Hundreds of exhumed remains of missing persons [are] waiting in boxes,” the relatives said... 7 comments

THE COMMITTEE on Missing Persons (CMP) and the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) are close to signing a new contract, according to presidential commissioner George Iacovou.“We’re close to an agreement even if there are a few problems still that I hope we’ll be able to bridge,” said Iacovou yesterday.It only recently came to light that a disagreement between CING and the CMP may lead to the remains of missing persons being sent abroad to be identified, as they have opened tenders to find a DNA laboratory either in Cyprus or abroad.The dispute centres around who has control of the results of the genetic profiles of the relatives of the missing, used to identify the remains so that they can then be handed over to their families for burial... 2 comments

A DISAGREEMENT between the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) and the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) may lead to the remains of missing persons being sent abroad for identification.According to presidential commissioner George Iacovou, who has been acting as mediator for some time, the dispute centres on who has control of the results of the genetic profiles of the relatives of the missing which are used to identify the remains so that they can be handed over to their families for burial.“The CMP decided that they wanted a new contract with CING that would allow them to have a copy of the genetic profiles but the institute objected to this,” said Iacovou... 3 comments