Serious questions in relation to the Aristotelous case are being raised by legal circles, while Achilleas Emilianides has already rolled up his sleeves and started his investigation into the allegations made by the Director of the Central Prison Anna Aristotelous against a police officer whom he accuses of trying to eliminate her with the help of a barber.
More specifically, the serious questions raised concern the way the matter was made public, as well as the securing of data which were forwarded to the Attorney General and are the subject of the criminal investigation. Further, on the issue of the senior officer's suspension or not.
Asked by the Cyprus Times to comment on the legal aspect of the matter, reputable legal expert Andreas Angelides explains the procedure followed in order to suspend a member of the police, while referring to an oddity in the way the matter was made public.
- Aristotelous asked for criminal investigators and suspension of the officer. "It's a one-way street..." (video)
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"Since there is an official complaint, the Attorney General rightly considered that this is a serious matter that he ought to investigate with the services of the state and appointed an independent criminal investigator, Mr.He said.
At the same time, however, he questioned the way the matter was made public. "Tradition of going public in the media with various information first. I think it is not the best method for a complaint, which has to be done competently and you expect development according to the law and the constitution. The publicity was perhaps because some complaint that she made to some democratic authorities did not lead anywhere and she made the publication first and from there the written complaint was made and the criminal investigator followed," he notes.
And he continues by raising various questions... "The questions are very many such as the time and the way the evidence was gathered and whether this evidence can be presented and accepted as testimony. The evidence will be investigated by the criminal investigator and for a criminal case to be forwarded a report will be made by the criminal investigator to the Attorney General to decide," he said.
The Officer should have been informed of the intention to suspend by law
Additionally on the issue of the suspension of the Officer and whether he received "special" treatment since he was given time by Justice Minister Stefi Drakou, Mr.Angelides notes that a suspension is not automatically and mechanically ordered because there is a criminal investigation.
"First you give a warning, you send a letter informing him and then the person affected responds if he wishes to respond and once that is done then the Minister decides whether to suspend him. Suspension is provided by law which says that he cannot be suspended immediately, he is entitled to be heard it is not a penalty, it is an administrative measure and it is important. In every suspension a warning must be given before a decision is taken."
Finally, Angelides points out that it is well known that mobile phones are not allowed in prisons. "If the conversations were made to obtain information about some other possible crime it may be acceptable, but if they were made to obtain video as alleged, criminal offences may arise," he said.
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