A 12-point response by the lawyers of the prison director, following a statement by the Legal Service, issued on Friday, referring to the use and trafficking of drugs and mobile phones in prisons.
The Legal Service's announcement came following the findings of the four criminal investigators who investigated the possible commission of criminal offences of transporting and using mobile phones inside a prison and the trafficking and use of drugs inside the prison, as well as what followed the murder of Turkish Cypriot Cidan on October 27 last year.
George Triantafyllidis and Pambos Ioannidis respond with a statement and the confrontation between the Legal Service and the Central Prisons continues.
The statement, which refers to a "war" on the part of the Legal Service, cites the complaint against Katsounotos by Anna Aristotelous as the trigger for it.
"We acknowledge that our clients' struggle is unequal because they have taken on the "system" that aims to eliminate them as we have long warned. The message to the ordinary citizen as we said in our previous statement is clear. Anyone who dares to take on the system will be eaten," the two lawyers say in their statement.
The statement concludes with the lawyers noting that they are awaiting Emilianides' conclusion.
"We personally have no doubt about the final decision of the Legal Service and we hope to be proven wrong. God forbid," the statement concludes.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY GIORGOS TRIANTAFYLIDI AND PAMPUS IOANNIDI
- First of all, we express surprise and disappointment at the public announcement of the Legal Service. It is not within the remit of the Legal Service to determine the adequacy and effectiveness of the measures taken in the Central Prison which is a matter solely for the Prison Service and the relevant Ministry of Justice. The decision of the Legal Service to issue a public statement on a matter for which it has no competence is unfortunately extremely unfortunate.
- We consider the recent statement of the Legal Service on the Central Prisons as a pure attempt to mislead public opinion about the inadequate and at least unfortunate, in our view, handling to date of the complaint submitted by our clients against the Senior Police Officer Mr. M. Katsunotou for complicity and corruption, which concerned, among other things, illegal communication using his personal mobile phone with a felon in order to neutralize them.
- The complaint was filed on 20 June 2022, a criminal investigator, Mr Achilleas Aimylianidis, was appointed and delivered his findings to the Legal Service on 15 September and the latter has been "studying" it for 2 years.5 months in an attempt, in our opinion, to "find" ways not to prosecute Mr. Katsounotos to whom, according to journalistic information which has never been refuted, Mr. Aimylianides attributes criminal responsibility together with two other persons. We have publicly called on the Attorney General to announce the outcome of the finding, which for the purposes of transparency in a case that has shocked public opinion he has every right to do if he wishes, in order to stop this whole scenario, but the Attorney General has so far refused to do so. The attempt by the Legal Service to "cover up" and "hush up" the case is obvious. Even today, in the context of transparency on an issue that has occupied public opinion for six months, we call on the Attorney General to publicly announce the outcome of the Emilianides report.
- The trigger for this merciless war that our clients are undergoing with the Legal Service, the Minister of Justice and Public Order and the Chief of Police as protagonists was the complaint submitted by our clients against Mr. Katsunotos in June 2022 when they got hold of a mobile phone of a felon who was exchanging messages with the personal phone of Mr. Katsunotos who urged the felon to secure, among other things, videos to "burn" our clients as well as to carry out other illegal actions.
- An investigation followed for possible criminal prosecution of our clients for leaking an allegedly confidential email in connection with which Ms. Aristotelous was interrogated for about 12 hours and which investigation was eventually terminated but which should never have even been started since it was purely a diversionary move.
- The war of the Legal Service continued and the Assistant Attorney General Mr. Savvas Angelides completely "coincidentally", and unrelated to the complaint our clients had filed against Mr. Katsunotos, appointed four criminal investigators with an exclusive mandate to investigate only any criminal responsibility for the use of mobile phones and drug trafficking in the Central Prison. Unfortunately for the Legal Service, however, it again appears from unconfirmed press reports that the findings of the four criminal investigators are exonerating our clients since the four criminal investigators do not find any criminal offences against them.
- Despite the fact that the existence of any criminal liability of our clients was not established and while the Legal Service felt the need to make a public announcement as soon as possible in relation to the above investigation, it completely concealed the absence of criminal liability, which was the only issue within the terms of reference of the investigators, and sent to the Minister of Justice and Public Order the report for possible action, even anticipating her decision, since she describes the measures taken as "inadequate and ineffective".
- We also note that with the delivery of the report to the Legal Service on 15 September 2022, the Minister of Justice, despite the press reports of criminal charges against Mr Katsunotos, terminates his suspension and reinstates him back to his duties, knowing, we assume, that if it is finally decided to prosecute Mr Katsunotos on the basis of the report, he cannot be suspended again. The Minister, as the political head of both the Prisons and the Police, underestimates both our own intelligence and that of the ordinary citizen when she recently claimed publicly that even to this day she has no idea of the outcome of Mr Aimylianides' finding.
- All of the above are undisputed facts and we call on the Legal Service to refute them. They are neither speculations nor generalisations nor generalisations such as the recent announcement of the Legal Service, whose attempt, we repeat, is to create impressions and mislead public opinion. Since 15 September we have been patiently awaiting the decision of the Legal Service without having provoked anyone and without issuing any communication. But our silence seems to have been misunderstood.
- The various cases referred to in the Legal Service's statement have been known and handled by both the Legal Service and the Police for a very long time, including cases that have never been brought to justice. It is unacceptable for the Legal Service to make "verdicts" through communications simply to create false impressions.
- We recognise that our clients' struggle is unequal because they are up against a "system" that aims to eliminate them, as we have long warned. The message to the ordinary citizen as we have said in our previous communication is clear. Anyone who dares to take on the system will be eaten.
- We continue to await the final decision of the Legal Service on the Emilianides conclusion and we wonder how long it will continue to be studied. We personally have no doubt about the final decision of the Legal Service and hope to be proven wrong.
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