Leak trial of ex deputy police chief up in the air

The trial of former deputy police chief Andreas Kyriacou, who is accused of leaking confidential documents, is up in the air after a court deadline last week came and went.

Kyriacou is facing charges of leaking embarrassing details from several internal probes into how Cyprus police handled information before and after the Ayia Napa mob killings on 23 June 2016, when businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis and three others, including an off duty cop, were shot dead while sitting on the patio at his restaurant.

Last month, a Nicosia District Court judge warned the state prosecutor he would find her in contempt if she refused to hand over specific evidence.

According to ReporterCY, the prosecutor handed over some additional information that she considers as evidence in the case, however she did not surrender the entire findings as the judge ordered, citing confidentiality.

A criminal probe finding had served as a basis for the state to build a case against Kyriacou, but prosecutors said they could only share sections of the findings.

When the court initially ordered for all the evidence to be handed over, the state prosecutor took the matter to the Supreme Court, which sided with the Nicosia judge, saying the trial ought to go forward and the findings should be submitted to the defence as evidence.

Kyriacou, whose appointment was terminated by President Nicos Anastasiades last year, is accused of leaking information that showed an Interpol Nicosia officer dialed a Serbian private phone number without justification. He denies all charges.

The phone call alerted a Serbian criminal mastermind, who got wind of cops closing in on his hit men in Cyprus. Nicosia later said the call was an honest mistake while Interpol Belgrade did not rule out other reasons behind the error.

Leaked information made it all the way to a parliament committee hearing and parts of it found their way to media outlets, showing incompetence at the very least and embarrassing Cyprus police worldwide. Belgrade was also irritated by the reports but also openly questioned Nicosia’s handling of and acting on the sensitive information.

The attorney general insists the criminal probe finding is not considered evidence in the case, adding the prosecutor already provided information relevant to Kyriacou’s case from two other probes.

But Kyriacou’s lawyer, Andros Pelekanos, said the criminal probe finding had formed a basis for bringing charges against his client and it ought to be examined in its entirety.

The document in question concluded that “the only person who could leak confidential and sensitive information from the Interpol file to the media would have been Deputy Chief of Police A. Kyriacou.”

Knews understands neither the prosecution nor the defence teams are backing down, at least for now. It is not clear whether the judge will dismiss the case citing lack of evidence or give an extension for the prosecutor to submit the finding in its entirety. The next hearing is set for September 26.