Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-12-16

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Paphos bishop: nuns will testify against 'pervert' monk

[02] Twenty-three boat people granted asylum

[03] Holbrooke talks appear fruitless

[04] Ask for the Mail. Cyprus Mail

[05] Inmates set for Christmas release

[06] Greek soldier dies

[07] Imports up, exports down in first ten months of 98

[08] Kyprianou berates UN over missing

[01] Paphos bishop: nuns will testify against 'pervert' monk

FACED with libel action by a Mount Athos monastery, the Bishop of Paphos yesterday claimed he could produce seven "infected" nuns to prove a "perverted" Greek elder had preyed on convent girls.

The clergy of Larnaca meanwhile made a desperate plea to the Archbishop and Holy Synod to intervene to silence Bishop Chrysostomos, who they said was dragging the Church's reputation through the gutter.

Top lawyers Tassos Papadopoulos and Christos Clerides - representing Vatopedhi monastery in Greece - yesterday began putting together a libel case against Chrysostomos for alleging that elder Iosif, 80, had sexually molested nuns and young girls during his stay at a Paphos monastery 17 years ago.

Vatopedhi is also taking action against Chrysostomos over "immorality" allegations he levelled at Abbot Athanasios of Machairas - a close associate of Iosif's and a former Vatopedhi monk.

Athanasios's supporters again claimed Chrysostomos was spreading lies with the sole aim of undermining their favourite's candidacy for Bishop of Limassol.

Lawyer Clerides said the Bishop had slandered the Mount Athos monks and enjoyed no immunity from court action. Clerides said Chrysostomos could face up to three years imprisonment if convicted of libel.

Chrysostomos was defiant: "I will be delighted if the matter goes to court, because it is not my case, it is the case of seven nuns whom the 'respected' elder molested."

He again failed to detail what his allegations against abbot Athanasios were but continued his unbridled attack on elder Iosif. Despite reports that Archbishop Chrysanthos has asked him to temper his statements, the Paphos Bishop continued to fight dirty.

"Things got to the point where the nuns were bringing me receipts for medicines they were getting from pharmacies for infections from the contact they all had (with Iosif)," he said.

"Monasticism has produced many saints, but there are also those in monasteries who are scum and perverts."

Archimandrite Lazaros Georgiou, speaking for Larnaca clergymen, said Chrysostomos was causing "pain and distress" to ordinary men of the cloth across the island.

"As simple clergymen who are in daily contact with common people, we are recipients of the pain and anxiety of parishioners and also have to suffer the ironic remarks and attacks of heretics and enemies of the Church."

He said the Larnaca clergy had sent a letter to the Archbishopric calling for action to rein the Paphos Bishop in.

"An end must be put to this God-forsaken state of affairs affecting all Church matters in Cyprus," Georgiou said.

The Bishop's sordid allegations have come hot on the heels of the financial fraud scandals which forced Bishop Chrysanthos of Limassol to resign.

"If any Bishop has evidence against a clergyman, the correct avenue is to take this evidence before the Synod... not to go to the media," Georgiou, a self-confessed supporter of Athanasios's candidacy, said.

He said the two monks were beyond reproach and Chrysostomos only wanted to undermine the abbot's candidacy.

Bishop Chrysostomos has claimed he told the Archbishop of the monks's "misdemeanours" 17 years ago, but his namesake was "not strict enough in this case."

The Archbishop was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Elections to find a replacement for Chrysanthos are set for next month.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[02] Twenty-three boat people granted asylum

A TOTAL of 23 of the 113 boat people rescued off Cyprus five months ago have been granted political asylum by the government, police said yesterday.

Last week, Immigration department officials said only 11 boat people, all Kurds, had been granted asylum.

"In all, 23 of the illegals have been granted asylum since August," the assistant captain of Limassol's Ayios Ioannis police station, Theodotis Theotis, said yesterday. The station has responsibility for watching the town's Pefkos hotel, where most of the immigrants are being housed.

Theotis - speaking on authorisation from deputy Limassol police chief Andreas Christofi - said ten of the 23 given asylum were Bangladeshis, the rest Kurds.

It was not clear yesterday when the other 12 boat people had secured asylum. The immigration department said it was unable to provide an exact figure yesterday for the number of boat people granted asylum.

Theotis said 38 boat people, including women and children, remained at the Pefkos Hotel.

The Africans among the immigrants were transferred to the old Famagusta detention centre in Larnaca following disturbances at the hotel in July. Thirty-six people remain incarcerated in Larnaca.

Fifteen of the boat people have been repatriated.

In Larnaca meanwhile, police were holding a Kurd believed to be the immigrant who escaped from the Pefkos hotel in early July, a week after the June 29 sea rescue.

Larnaca police said the man, whose whereabouts have been a mystery for the past five months, had been arrested at Larnaca airport on Sunday trying to board a flight to Vienna with a fake Hungarian passport.

The detainee did not speak Hungarian and the passport he presented at the airport had been an obvious fake, a Larnaca CID officer said.

"He is being investigated for passport forgery," the officer said.

The boat people were found crammed on board a Syrian-flagged fishing boat drifting off Cyprus.

The passengers had paid the Syrian captain of the Ridah Allah hundreds of dollars for passage from Tripoli to Italy or Greece.

After the rescue, all of the boat people sought asylum.

In July, rumours that deportations were imminent led to clashes between enraged passengers and police.

The Africans among the boat people were blamed for the violence and transferred to holding cells in Larnaca.

The Attorney-general, Alecos Markides, has ordered two investigations into alleged police brutality against the immigrants. The first alleged attack took place at the Pefkos in August and the other following protests at the Famagusta detention centre in October. The later attack, in which riot police viciously beat detainees with batons, was captured by television cameras.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[03] Holbrooke talks appear fruitless

The government had nothing to say yesterday about the American envoy's Monday visit to Athens to discuss the missile issue with Greek leaders.

But Disy leader Nicos Anastassiades said there was a lot of movement going on in relation to the Cyprus problem, which did not necessarily have to do with the missiles.

He said the government's decision on this was already clear and he hoped the UN Security Council would look at the issue and would understand the Cyprus government's decisions regarding its defence.

Anastassiades was speaking after a meeting with President Clerides.

According to reports from Athens, Holbrooke made little progress after an early meeting with Greek Defence Minister Akis Tzohatzopoulos, and left looking annoyed.

The Greek Minister appeared equally reticent about his contacts with the American envoy.

"No, no I can't discuss further about the proposals that concern Mr Holbrooke and (State Department Cyprus co-ordinator Thomas) Miller, who have a specific mission. It is up to them to say if they think they will have a future," Tzohatzopoulos said.

He hinted that he and Holbrooke did not see eye to eye on the missile issue.

"It was a communication where both sides heard views that mutually express the prospects that each side sees as realistic for the outcome."

But American ambassador in Athens Nicholas Burns, who spent an extra 30 minutes alone with Tzohatzopoulos, sounded more upbeat, describing the Greek Minister as "a very valued interlocutor of the United States".

Holbrooke also met on Monday with Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and American proposals were further discussed at a working dinner that evening. No statements were made afterwards.

In Nicosia, Alexis Galanos, leader of the European Democratic Renewal Movement Party, said yesterday he was pessimistic on any progress on the Cyprus problem.

He said there could be no solution because no one was pressing Turkey; in such a situation, Cyprus could do little but to stick to its position.

Holbrooke and others are said to favour placing the missiles

in storage in Greece, or deploying them in Crete. The issue has caused a rift between Nicosia and Athens, with the Greek government apparently backing a Cretan deployment. But Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis has made clear the final decision will rest with Nicosia.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[04] Ask for the Mail. Cyprus Mail

INSTEAD of asking your newsagent for the Cyprus Mail when you buy your favourite paper, you might soon have to change that to "Mail. Cyprus Mail".

The reason being that the Cyprus Mail has been approached about playing a part in the upcoming James Bond movie.

Details are still under wraps, but Tomorrow Never Dies, the last film in the series, did centre around a global newspaper (Tomorrow) with huge readership run by megalomaniac Jonathan Pryce.

Pryce's character Elliot Carver was killed at the end of the film (by a giant drill), but luckily for the Bond producers, we're still here.

Over the past few months, media speculation has been rife that the 19th 007 movie, tentatively entitled The World is Not Enough, might actually be partly filmed here. The rumours were fuelled by the release of the most recent Bond novel, The Facts of Death by Raymond Benson, which is partly set in Cyprus and features a Cypriot villain.

The books have no connection with the film series beyond the Bond character.

For Bond 19, Irishman Pierce Brosnan returns for his third outing as the world's favourite spy/pop culture icon. And in spite of threats by director Michael Apted that this would be a new "babe-less" Bond, it was recently announced that Denise Richards of Starship Troopers and Wild Things and Braveheart's Sophie Marceau would both be on hand to add the necessary glamour. Richards' character is Doctor Christmas Jones, a nuclear expert.

British actor-comedian Robbie Coltrane is also expected to return as Russian mafiosi Valentin Zukovsky, while reports have claimed that the movie will break the mould by featuring a female villain named Elektra, who might be played by Sharon Stone.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[05] Inmates set for Christmas release

In view of the Christmas holidays, the prison administration has prepared the files of 15 inmates, who they believe should receive a presidential pardon.

Their papers have been sent to the Attorney-general for approval. If he agrees, will send the relevant decree for President Clerides to sign.

It is reported that 17 files were sent for approval, but that two have been rejected.

If all goes according to plan, the 15 prisoners will be released just in time for Christmas, on December 22.

The authorities are also preparing for around 50 inmates to be given short- term leave over the 10-day festive period.

Duration of leave for the 50 prisoners will range from eight to 72 hours for a home stay.

All those expected to be released on a presidential pardon were in any case due to be set free on January 31, 1999.

The pardons only concern those inmates serving relatively short sentences for petty crimes.

Awarding pardons at Christmas and Easter is a traditional practice to encourage inmates to keep on their best behaviour.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[06] Greek soldier dies

The soldier was named as Paraskevas Karademetriou stationed at an Eldyk camp on the island. His age was not released.

According to the statement, the incident happened at 10.20pm on Monday. The soldier was taken to Nicosia General hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His body was flown back to his home in Greece yesterday afternoon.

The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Eldyk statement said, giving no further details.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[07] Imports up, exports down in first ten months of 98

The Finance Ministry's Department of Statistics and Research said exports reached £475.3 million during the first 10 months of 1998, down from £542.6 million in the corresponding period of last year.

Imports for home consumption rose to £1.29 billion compared £1.24 billion in last year's January-October period, while total imports (which include imports placed into bonded warehouses) stood at £1.56 billion, down from £1.59 billion in the first 10 months of 1997, the figures showed.

As usual, EU countries took the lion's share of the island's exports - 53.8 per cent - followed by Arab countries, which absorbed 26.3 per cent.

Farm products, particularly potatoes, increased year-on-year by nearly 20 per cent to £37.1 million in the first 10 months of 1997, while industrial exports registered a small decline to account for 78.9 per cent of exports, or £142.9 million, compared to 81.9 per cent last year.

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

[08] Kyprianou berates UN over missing

Referring to the appointment earlier this year of Jean Pierre Ritter as the UN's representative on the committee for the missing, the House President said: "The fact that the third member to the Investigatory Committee for the Missing has an 18-month contract and is in Cyprus to work on the issue for only 10 days a month proves how seriously they handle the issue."

Speaking after meeting with a delegation from the Committee of Relatives of Missing Persons yesterday, Kyprianou said the UN was giving the impression that it was trying to close the issue.

Kyprianou said the Cyprus government did not consider the subject closed, and that even in the cases of persons who may be dead or murdered, "we must know where they are buried."

He said he would discuss the issue with President Glafcos Clerides and Attorney-general Alecos Markides, "to see what could be done".

Meanwhile, Committee president Nicos Theodosiou said decisions on the issue have been taken. He would not say more until the steps had been implemented.

Theodosiou added: "first and foremost the problem is Turkish intransigence and, then the UN stance." He criticised the government for not reacting more forcefully and expressed the hope that parliament would act so that the present impasse is overcome.

Last year the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides agreed to exchange information about the sites of mass graves, but the agreement has broken down.

A total of 1,619 Greek Cypriots were listed as missing after the 1974 Turkish invasion. American scientists this year exhumed the remains of one of the missing - an American Cypriot - and identified them on the strength of DNA evidence.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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