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High-powered attorney Loukis Loucaides is calling on a Larnaca judge to step down, questioning her competence and accusing her of taking irregular steps when she handed him a four month suspended sentence.
Larnaca District Court Judge Maria Loizou sentenced Nicosia-based Loucaides to four months in a case where he was accused of obstruction of justice. Specifically, Loucaides had written a letter to the court registrar which was later found by the court to be inaccurate, with the judge siding with the plaintiffs, three attorneys from Larnaca.
But Loucaides, who wrote a damning letter addressed to the judge, said he did not understand why his letter was considered obstruction of justice. He says he had simply informed the registrar that prosecution against specific defendants had been suspended. The court had found that prosecution had been withdrawn only against Loucaides himself.
The attorney said in his letter that he forwarded to the court registrar what he was sent by the attorney general’s office, adding that the ruling against him was “ridiculous.”
Before her ruling against Loucaides, the judge did not accept a letter that referred to a legal opinion by the attorney general. According to Loucaides, the letter was sufficient to be subjected to “reasonable and legal interpretation” regarding the suspension of prosecution against the defendants.
But the judge found that Loucaides had enough experience and “should have known better” when it came to matters of suspending prosecution of defendants and how things worked.
Loucaides, aged 81, served as deputy attorney general in the Republic of Cyprus for over two decades and also sat on the bench at the European Court of Human Rights as Cypriot Justice for nine years.
But the well known Cypriot attorney is also known for criticising the local justice system, pointing fingers at the establishment and even saying publicly that many judges are not trained properly for the job.
In his letter, according to Kathimerini Cyprus, Loucaides told Loizou that her ruling was a “sign of degrading your level as judge.”
Loucaides is calling on the judge to step down from her position as judge, defending his criticism saying “critique is necessary especially when done in a way that people can understand.”
Knews understands the high-powered attorney is prepared to take the matter to the Supreme Court, while he also plans to brief a number of people who have an interest in how justice is administered in Cyprus.
