Former volunteer commissioner Yiannakis Yiannaki was remanded in custody until his new court hearing that was rescheduled to April 2 after he claimed sickness and did not appear in court on Monday.

Yiannaki did not appear to the hearing scheduled for 10:30 am, stating over the phone through a lawyer that he was unable to attend due to health reasons.

The judge had ordered the issuing doctor to appear in court to confirm Yiannaki absence was justified. Before issuing the arrest warrant, she had warned that Yiannaki would remain in custody until the rescheduled trial if the doctor did not confirm the validity of the certificate.

Speaking in front of the judge, the doctor reported Yiannaki had been diagnosed with gastritis on Sunday evening after displaying symptoms of vomiting, inability to eat and general weakness.

The doctor said Yiannaki had asked for a certificate to present at his work, not mentioning that he was going to use it to abstain from the court proceedings.

For the judge, this was no sufficient proof of Yiannaki’s inability to appear before court and therefore issued an arrest warrant, with instructions for him to remain in custody until his next hearing on April 2nd.
Yiannaki’s lawyer was initially set to represent him only on Monday, as the former volunteer commissioner had not yet secured legal representation for the entire trial. However, he later announced that he intended to appear with a lawyer at the rescheduled hearing.

Yiannaki, who served as volunteer commissioner under Nicos Anastasiades’ government, is on trial for forgery related to his high school diploma and university degree from the USA.

The forgery was revealed on May 26, 2021, by the auditor-general and was filed in court a year later following police investigations.

He had initially faced 18 charges until Legal Service removed ten of them that were related to payments from the Youth Organisation he had headed as they were considered earned wages.

As a result, on June 9, 2022, four charges for forgery and four for circulating forged documents were filed, to which he pleaded not guilty.

In July 2024, Yiannaki defence had argued his right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence were violated due to media reports and public statements.

The claims were dismissed by prosecution, countering that they lacked legal basis and that media influence did not inherently render a trial unfair.