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Cyprus

Police collecting evidence from the Strovolos cemetry yesterday (Christos Theodorides)

THREE PEOPLE were last night arrested in connection with the theft of the remains of former President Tassos Papadopoulos from his grave three months ago.

Nicosia police named the men as convicted rapist and murderer Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, his brother and an unnamed Indian man. According to state broadcaster CyBC, the Indian has confessed to the grave robbing.

The remains were found late Monday in another person's grave after police received a tip-off, while DNA tests yesterday confirmed them as those of the former leader. In a well-planned operation, thieves lifted a 300kg granite slab covering Papadopoulos' grave in a Deftera cemetery on December 11 last year, removed the corpse from its coffin and left the scene undetected.

According to CyBC, the Indian man said he and Kitas’ brother placed the remains in the Strovolos cemetery on December 11 and were able to push the tomb stone aside relatively easily.

The arrests were the culmination of fevered media speculation yesterday that those responsible for removing Papadopoulos’ remains might include a lifer who was motivated either by money or the prospect of negotiating his early release from prison.

Former Nicosia Central Prison Governor Panikos Kyriacou told reporters that when he heard about the theft of Papadopoulos’ body last December, he immediately remembered a threat made a few years ago during his time in charge by a convict serving a life sentence. At that time, the lifer had threatened to steal the body of former President Spyros Kyprianou from its grave in Limassol, with the aim of negotiating his early release.

Kyriacou said yesterday that he thought at the time it was “very possible” that the same man was involved in the theft of Papadopoulos’ body, and so he immediately contacted Police Chief Michalis Papageorgiou.

Last night, CyBC said the lifer arrested was someone other than the man named by Kyriacou, who had been pressuring the arrested man for information he might use to his own advantage.

As the police continued to gather evidence yesterday that led them to the three arrests, a row has erupted over whether the motive for stealing the body in the first place was financial, with media speculating a ransom of €300,000 was being sought for the remains.

Justice Minister Loucas Louca told reporters yesterday lunchtime that the police had been working flat out on the case since the former President’s body was removed in December. He said that “the outcome is that ransom demands lay behind the theft and there was no political motive whatsoever.”

Louca said unequivocally that the Papadopoulos family had received a ransom demand, but following police advice, none was paid. He refused to comment on the exact timing, saying that “the amount or the way the ransom was demanded are irrelevant”, adding that he did “not think that disclosing any further details would serve any purpose, and can only harm the case.”

However, during a live telephone interview on a CyBC TV lunchtime programme close associate of the former President and currently Director of the Tassos Papadopoulos Foundation, Chrysis Pantelides refuted Louca’s statement, denying categorically that the family had received “any demand whatsoever for ransom, full stop.”

In an indirect swipe at the Justice Minister, he added: “Everyone, and I stress the word, should behave more responsibly – especially those in a position of authority – at such a critical time, while the police are still making enquiries.”

Later yesterday afternoon, Pantelides said the Papadopoulos family “had received no demand or request for the payment of ransom for the delivery or location of the remains of the former President, and of course neither had they paid any ransom to anybody”.

In his second press conference of the day later still in the afternoon, Louca stood his ground, saying that as Justice Minister he was “obliged to uphold the truth”, and that everything he had referred to earlier regarding ransom demands was “based on truth and reality”. Louca said that his position allowed him to know about the possible motives for such demands, “and so, responsibly, I can say that the motives for the crime were financial”.

In terms of the ongoing police investigation, Louca said that “the police are optimistic that they will solve this case”.

Meanwhile, various political figures yesterday expressed their relief that the former President’s remains had been found. President Demetris Christofias said he had contacted Papadopoulos’ widow Fotini and expressed his sympathy to her and her family. “At last we feel relief and satisfaction, and I am sure the family feels that too,” he added.

Speaking from her home, Fotini Papadopoulou said: “The locating of the remains of our beloved Tassos has put an end to the ordeal we have been living through these last three months in a state of shock, and has restored peace and calm to our family.”

Just after 6pm, Papadopoulos’ remains were finally moved to Nicosia General Hospital to allow state pathologists Sophocles Sophocleous and Nicholas Charalambous to complete their investigations. When the remains are handed over to the family – most likely today – they intend to rebury them in Deftera Cemetery.

How the remains were found

POLICE SPOKESMAN Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday that the remains had been located between 7.00 and 7.15pm on Monday, in the new Strovolos cemetery in the Halepianes area of Tseri, following a call made at around 6.30pm from a phonebox in the Lapatsas area between Tseri and Deftera.

Several reports have suggested that the call giving the whereabouts of the remains was taken by a member of the immediate family – some said the former President’s widow Fotini Papadopoulou herself – who then contacted the police.

The caller – who is said to have spoken broken Greek – reportedly said that the remains were to be found in a specific grave of a refugee from Dikomo. When police officers arrived at the scene, they located the grave easily, and reportedly noticed signs that the tombstone had been recently moved. Having taken steps to preserve any possible evidence, they started digging, and located the remains under a few centimetres of soil. The soil under the tombstone is reported to have been freshly dug, suggesting that Papadopoulos’ remains had been moved there very recently.

The family were contacted to identify the remains. According to reports, Papadopoulos’ daughter Anastassia and his daughter-in-law Yiota were able to do so thanks to a lapel-pin and traces of clothing and shoes.

The police spokesman said that the particular phonebox had been traced with the help of state telecoms operator CyTA, and forensic experts and officers from Nicosia CID had gone over the booth and surrounding area for fingerprints and other possible evidence.