The probe into Thanasis Nicolaou’s death at the Limassol district court continued on Wednesday with former investigator into the case, Savvas Matsas, taking the stand for the second consecutive day.
Matsas, who was removed from the case by the attorney-general for revealing details of his findings to the media, said forensic pathologist Panicos Stavrianos, who carried out the initial autopsy on Nicolaou and who has been barred from taking the stand in court proceedings, “lied in his findings”.
“Thanasis had bruises on his body,” Matsas told the court. “Stavrianos did not even refer to them in his report.”
“All these omissions and lies point to one thing. Why do people lie? To cover up the truth. There is no other explanation.”
Matsas also questioned the guardsman’s time of death. In his report, Stavrianos said Nicolaou died between 2.30pm and 6.30pm.
The former investigator refuted the pathologist’s statements and said Nicolaou was instead “murdered around two and a half hours after he had had his breakfast cereal at 6:15am”.
“It was not between 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Stavrianos decided that was the time of death he should declare. He lied,” Matsas said.
“This effort to cover up [THIS CASE] continues to this day. Stavrianos’ report, with its omissions and lies, misled the police, which also failed to properly investigate the case.”
Nicolaou was found dead under a bridge in 2005 and Stavrianos was the medical examiner who ruled Nicolaou’s death was due to suicide.
His remains were later exhumed, and the suicide ruling was deemed to be false. The family has always argued Nicolaou was murdered, potentially for knowing about drug rings within the army.
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Mail
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Mail
Source
